I just watched "There''s Something Wrong With Aunt Diane" \ Part 2

It seems reasonable to me that the husband didn't follow them home because he has the dog in his truck, and she is going to stop with the kids for breakfast. Is he going to leave the dog in the truck and go in with them, or just sit outside until they are done, just so he can follow them? Also, I think Diane would have been dropping off her nieces at her brother's house. The husband could take the dog and go straight home. He doesn't have these errands on the way, so of course he will make it home first. He may not have been concerned that she wasn't home yet, because she might stop to visit with her brother and sister in law when dropping off the nieces.

R1, I would venture you're not a married man with kids. Most men WOULD follow their wives and kids home. The fact that a dog is in the car is irrelevant.

The sole surviving son is going to need so much therapy. Just from being raised by Danny.

[quote]Fat frauen flattens family

Oh, dear.

You moron, 'frauen' is plural of 'frau.'

Thank you OP. This thread/mystery has been fascinating to follow. I actually like our DL detective theories being posted - it's interesting to see everyone take on it - what happened - but what COULD have happened.

I have a very hard time believing she(or any person) would purposely kill the 3 nieces. If she was so hell bent on a suicide mission to punish her husband, why not let the 3 little girls out of the van first?

Two fucking threads about this shit?

Unreal.

I am now posting in the narcissism thread.

I find this thread interesting as well. If Diane had survived, she no doubt would have faced criminal charges and we would know more about the dynamics of the family. That's the part that interests me. I have no doubt she was drunk and high - the toxicology reports established that. As a poster from the first thread said, the most revealing article was the one in NY Mag which shows Danny to be a clueless doofus. From his description of her impulsive shopping, it sounded like Diane was bipolar and self-medicating. And I do believe she was a closet drunk, whether a daily drinker or a binge drinker. I'm sure many of us have known people who undergo a complete personality change once they get a few (not to mention 10!) drinks in them. Danny, due to his work schedule and general stupidity, may not have been aware of the extent of her problem. Not that I'm excusing him - he seems like a slimeball.

I guess the fascination with this case stems from the fact that this family seemed "normal" from all outward appearances until it all ended with a fiery crash.

What if it was Diane who was having the affair? Not Daniel. I know that looking, or reading about her, she%E2%80%99s about the last person that anyone could imagine having an affair, but it happens. Fat ugly people have sex too. Maybe she found a guy who liked to be bossed around in bed. %0D %0D %0D Somehow stupid hubby Danny finds out and it all comes out on the trip. Maybe in front of the kids%0D %0D %0D Diane figures fuck Daniel, who needs him. I can, and HAVE done so much better. Sunday she takes all the kids to meet her booty call guy, who freaks at the idea of fulltime Diane, especially the thought of uber regimented Diane, PLUS kids, he handles it badly and now Diane has no husband no sideline guy either. She is absolutely emotionally crushed, can%E2%80%99t go home, the guy on the side isn%E2%80%99t the guy on the side anymore. So she has a drink or two. Smokes a bit. Has another drink or two.. after that I don%E2%80%99t know%E2%80%A6.I just wanted to point out that it might have been her having an affair%0D

Diane worked as the head of collections for the company. Perfect job for her. I%E2%80%99m sure if any of us heard her on the other end of the phone we%E2%80%99d pay the bill just not to have to hear her voice ever again

I would like to see more pictures of dramatis personae of this whole sordid affair. Diane, Danny, B-I-Ls, S-I-Ls, Bastardis, Tracker drivers, etc. Did any DLer go to school on LI with Diane or Danny? Are there mag articles besides NEW YORK mag? Are there TV clips of the Schulers pre-accident. I would like to see her moving around, but not on a surveillance tape. Also, I would really like to hear Diane's voice and accent. Does this exist in the public record? Anything like that to be seen, does anyone know?

True, R11. She reminds me of a manager at my company who prides herself on being a hard-ass bitch. She's good at her job but to put it diplomatically, she's more respected (or maybe feared) than loved. Has an explosive temper which she doesn't hesitate to use to intimidate others. She also lost her mother at an early age, although due to death, not desertion. And like Diane, her husband is a meathead and she wears the pants in the family. I don't see Diane as having an affair, but who knows. It sounds like she had her hands full with the kids and her job. If anybody was having an affair, it was Danny. His behavior and eagerness to cover up points to a guilty conscience. And about her drinking - I recall a quote from a friend of Diane's - it might have been in that NY Mag article - that they would go out to bars and Diane would slam down a few screwdrivers after work. Wouldn't she have had to be a habitual drinker to have 10 shots of vodka in her and not collapse from alcohol poisoning?

Can someone give me the abridged version of why datalounge is so fascinated with a local drunk driving car accident story? I can give you a few more "drunk kills innocents" stories of equal tragedy/horror. What's so special about this one? Frau hatefest on DL or local NY'ers navel gazing?

I was glad to see at the end of the documentary that Jay was getting tired of Daniel's crap. I noticed she said she talked to the pediatrician about a therapist for Brian, sounds like she pushed the issue so maybe it's good she is looking out for the little boy. Though she needs to face that there was no "medical reason" that caused Diane to crash and stop feeding into Daniels' bullshit.%0D %0D Daniel started pissing me off when he kept saying "it's not true" when they said she was drunk and high. Is he really smart enough to know to cover his ass for a lawsuit or is he that deep in denial?%0D %0D Her best friend was not very complimentary of Diane and said how she had to control everything, she couldn't fake a smile and would always tell what she felt, and that she either liked you or hated you. Diane sounded like an unhappy bitch.%0D %0D Liked the "Ooooh, Maroone!" guy and his talking about how Diane was driving pin straight.%0D %0D I still think she figured she was going to be busted for being that drunk with kids in the car so she may as well go out in flames.%0D %0D %0D

R14 It's not just a simple drunk driving story, there are a LOT of unanswered questions in this case.....in short everyone loves a mystery. Mmmmkkay?

Danny's mother said Diane treated him like a 3rd child and his father said she was the boss. I get the feeling Danny is just plain dumb & lazy, he was happy to have bossy Diane run the show and support the family. He is more sorry for himself he has to raise a son he didn't want, I don't think he is that fazed that he lost his wife and daughter. He is more upset that his wife isn't there to do all the work for him.%0D %0D %0D %0D

R14, maybe it is a bit of NY navel-gazing (I'm a New Yorker and have followed this case from the beginning although I admit I didn't see the documentary) but I think it is the cover-up aspect that is fascinating. Rather like the Jon Benet case or, more recently, Caylee Anthony. I didn't follow either of those cases that closely, but in all of these instances, it seems that the family is covering for the perp and/or the police work was shoddy and we'll never know what happened. I think you might be onto something, R15. I don't understand why Warren Hance and his wife are covering for her - what happened in those phone calls and why did he not call 911 immediately?

I think another reason people are interested in this case, aside from what other posters have already mentioned, is that it gives a window into the bizarre, trashy and tacky subculture of Long Island. The Amy Fisher/Buttafuoco case had the same effect on people many years ago.

It was very telling that Diane was the head of collections at her company. If you have ever had to deal with a collections dept., you know they are the most unpleasant and rude people. All of them are awful.

It's just SO fucking creepy. Diane either killed herself on a suicide mission and murdered a bunch of innocent people...or she killed herself and a bunch of innocent people due to criminally irresponsible behavior. She had all these lurid secrets bubbling under the surface of her phony "supermom" facade...and then there's the dysfunction of the whole Schuler/Warren family. It's fucked up. I think she had a death wish...and she took a LOT of people with her on the way out. We'll likely never know the reason...maybe this whole tragedy will scare a few "casual" drunks from ever drinking/toking and driving again?

The other thing is: like so many other crimes- and that's what this was, A CRIME, not an accident...if Diane had somehow lived she'd be in prison for 2nd degree murder (25 years) or vehicular homicide: but like so many crimes- we don't really know 'why' it happened-just that it happened. We'll never really know the reason.

If she was suicidal, it's a shame she couldn't have just gone out alone and crashed the van into a wall. She had to take innocent lives with her.

[quote]I have a very hard time believing she(or any person) would purposely kill the 3 nieces. If she was so hell bent on a suicide mission to punish her husband, why not let the 3 little girls out of the van first?%0D %0D It's possible that Diane Schuler was enraged at more than one person. Killing herself punishes the feckless husband and leaves him to fend for himself; by killing her nieces she was depriving her hated mother of grandchildren. This is the only explanation I can think of that makes 'sense' although of course none of it makes sense because the woman was irrational and intoxicated, and trying to determine a crazy person's mindset posthumously is impossible.

I agree R23. There are however, people who do take others with them to the grave. It's cowardly, it's wrong, and it's tragic-but there are people who go that route. There's the control issue, anger/rage/spite, sometimes I think they'll take the lives of others before or during the suicide as a means of "point of no return" -no turning back attitude, so they won't 'chicken out' once the decision is made...almost like burning bridges with this life, like they have something to prove even in death. Mothers who kill their own children *(or child surrogates) might have an attitude of "these kids will NEVER survive without ME. What type of life would they have without ME?!?" or an attitude of "They will be better off in heaven!" for the religious nuts...or even the attitude of "I am a BAD person. An evil person (or MY EX is evil etc) and these children are evil and bad too." Then there's always the tunnel vision of just wanting to "end things" or just wanting peace or just wanting all the madness to "STOP!" and they don't think things through. (Like a pilot who crashes the plane intentionally, not thinking of the passengers or just not giving a shit) There might have been a divorce on the horizon and she couldn't handle a future of going back to being a single, fat undesirable divorced loser-now with 2 kids and an ex unable to contribute much money and unwilling to cooperate. If she was the only pot smoker in the relationship that could be used against her in a custody battle...or if her brother and sister-in-law refused to let Diane be around her kids because of an incident like this-that could all be used against her in a family court. Maybe she felt she had no way out, no options, she was angry, sullen, and depressed and just said "FUCK ALL OF YOU" or thought "Fuck it. I'm just goiing to get fucked up, I don't care.Whatever happens happens. I don't give a shit. I'm out of here."

I don't think she set out to kill the kids; they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time when Diane got suicidally drunk that day. What's weird is that I don't think she had even formed any intent until after she was intoxicated. I guess that's sort of like any Saturday night, when people get drunk and shoot each other after getting enraged over trivial bullshit. The image of the smoke high in the air from the wreck is disturbing, the ones of Diane, less so. I know there are fatal alcohol-related wrecks every day, but the body count from hers is inexcusable.%0D %0D So, we get to watch the family try to dream up an excuse for what Diane did.The old medical examiner was very kind when he repeated the same information from the first autopsy to Danny and Jay after his review of the case. So was the detective who had the results of the second tests, who told the SIL, "You may never know if she did this deliberately" or something similar.%0D %0D Diane's family are trying to remake her into a saint totally free of blame for any of her actions that day. It's telling how Jay insists she won't accept any information that contradicts what she has to beleive. "I have to be able to tell her son she wasn't a bad mom. She wasn't a drunk driver. She was not an alcoholic. This was so out of character for her"; etc. No matter how many times the truth is explained to them, they ignore it and keep grasping at straws. The film doesn't help them to appear as especially bright people, I agree.

I've been reading about the case offline and the family of the father/son killed in the other car were upset that the autopsy didn't include a hair sample. This would indicate past history of narcotics use.

I think it's interesting that she left the phone and drove off. Probably didn't want to be confronted by her brother. I think the husband and sister in law knew more than they were letting on. I think something happened. Something must have gone on. She was sick of doing everything. Her husband was having an affair, probably with a guy in the parks. He told his son he wished he never had him. She demanded chicken selects and pain killers. Somebody might have put vodka in her sealed McDonald's orange juice. if the tumor on her thyroid caused her to go mental that could be what happened. She was extremely controlling. They said she was throwing up outside the car. Straight as a pin. I was so freaked out when they showed the death photo. She looked drunk, but dead. And also fat. She carried a lot of heavy drinking weight. She gained weight on the drive because her brother was coming to get her. He didn't call 911 because he assumed the worst and feared getting in trouble himself. The phone was on the barrier near the toll booth. She drove a number of miles in the wrong direction and rather swiftly. It is a mystery. Something must have happened. An undetectable brain aneurism.

Danny's insistence that he "needs to be able to tell his son that his mother wasn't a bad person" is really Danny's insistence that he needs to be able to tell (anyone) that he himself isn't a bad person.

Danny is a lazy SOB. So why is he suddenly all gung-ho about preserving the memory of Diane as a flawless figure? He is desperately trying to cover up his own flaws. He did something that set her off.

[quote]I don't understand why Warren Hance and his wife are covering for her - what happened in those phone calls and why did he not call 911 immediately?%0D %0D I am assuming that when he talked to her on the phone he figured out she was drunk and told her to stay put. He didn't call the cops because he didn't want her to get arrested for drunk driving. The guilt he must feel now has to be a huge burden.%0D %0D %0D

This is officially DL's version of Groundhog Day.

I watched the documentary tonight. It was fascinating.

Jay (blond sister-in-law) seems like a really good woman who has some smarts, but Daniel, the husband, doesn't seem particularly bright. He's definitely a blue-collar type of guy who let his wife run the show.

It's too bad they weren't able to get the Hance family (who lost their 3 daughters) to participate. Their contributions would have been invaluable, especially since they were the last ones who spoke to Diane while she was on the road.

The Hance family is not talking because they are probably the only ones in that family with any class.

I go back and forth about suicide but why would she do that on the Tuconic Parkway? She could have crashed the care anywhere. There was no reason for her to be on the Tuconic. She was so drunk and stoned she got lost.

I think all the wandering and backtracking was nothing more than Diane building up the courage or rage to do what she did. And I do think she was as pissed off at the Hances as she was with her husband. I don't think she killed her nieces for the pleasure of depriving her mother of grandchildren. I believe it was something more directly related.

I've said it once in this thread (the other one) and will say it again -%0D %0D I am so mortified by the times I've driven after drinking too much. Yes - flame me, I deserve it. I haven't in years, but again, there is just something about this (not your average DUI accident) that almost kills me. It takes my breath away how easily you can be killed in a car accident. Just like that - SNAP! Internal decapitation and you're OVAH.

The surviving child is going to hear all about this in school for years to come. Kids his age are old enough to hear grown ups talking and understand what they are talking about but not understand what it really means. They are old enough to read headlines, listen to the news. The lawsuits will keep this in the media for a long time. Bryan may be whispered about or outright taunted in school. "Your mother was a drunk and a murderer." and "Your mother tried to kill you." and lets not forget "Your father didn't want you either."

Question:

If Diane's brother figured out she was drunk during one of their phone calls, why would he go driving after her - alone? He would have needed another driver to go with him. He would have taken over Diane's car and the other driver would have driven his car home. What, was he going to just leave his car on the highway?

This is the most interesting part of the case. WHY did the brother get in his car to drive to Diane??? What was he going to do if he found her?

Jay is a real piece of work also. She lights up a cigarette on camera while stating "No one knows I smoke." Um, anyone with a working nose that stands close to you knows you smoke, Jay. Lots of denial in that family.

R37: Please tell me you are not THAT stupid.

Interesting tidbit about Diane being a debt collector-- NOT some sort of head of accounting or comptroller as has been reported elsewhere.

At work, I see a lot of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases and can tell you debt collectors are the lowest-class, scummiest, trashiest, and most stupid human beings on the planet.

I'm sure some of them do make a good salary-- it's all commissions based. But, Jesus Christ what a bleak existence.

R30: or................MR.Hance didn't call the police right away because...wait for it.... he had someone else call right away.

R40 here.

I meant to add I can't even imagine being uneducated, obese, having a shiftless dolt of a husband, living in a shithole, being solely responsible for 2 kids, AND having to go to a job that's widely known to employ the lowest of the low.

It's no wonder she had problems. Of course most of these were of her own creation. She was quite young, yet apparently had no college education?

If she were 20 years old or 60 years old, I could understand forgoing college. But people in her age group were able to attend college back when costs were fairly reasonable.

And, she lives in an area with a very high cost of living. It's not like she lived in some small, rural town where you can go to work for the post office and still afford a 4-bedroom house.

I can't imagine why she thought this was a viable life decision. I can't imagine why she thought marrying a trashy blob was a viable life decision. "Forcing" her idiot husband to have kids he didn't want, etc.

She's quite a piece of work before you even factor in her actions behind the wheel.

I am not a married man with kids, R2. My father is, my brother is, and my brother in law is.

We might caravan for a real road trip (most of the day in the car), but for a 30 to 45 minute drive home where people have different itineraries? No, not if it's impractical.

What do these people do? Follow their wives around as they take the kids to school and soccer practice?

No, I'm just not seeing it.

r43, it was a three hour road trip. Given the fact that she had 5 kids ranging in age from 9 - 2, one might expect it reasonable that Danny would follow in case she needed any help (kid getting car sick, car trouble). However now that we know what a self centered clueless douchebag Danny is it's not surprising that he high tailed it out of there with the dog and was home for hours without even thinking to call her to see what was keeping her.

[quote]This is officially DL's version of Groundhog Day. I love you.

Diane was, without a doubt, mentally ill (she was controlling, had abandonment issues from her childhood, was compulsive, etc,). She medicated herself with alcohol and THC (someone who is such a controlling perfectionist would never seek out psychological help voluntarily...that would be seen as an admission of weakness). She may have been at the end of her rope married to a lazy good-for-nothing sponger, who doubled as her third child (she had to be a mother figure to her brothers as a child...she was repeating this pattern by marrying a person who was lazy, and looking to be mothered, himself). Perhaps she intentionally took her, himself; there was no way this man was going to divorce her...she was his meal ticket, and did everything for him). Perhaps she intentionally took her own children on her suicidal drive because--in her disordered mind--killing them along with herself would keep her from abandoning them, as her mother had done to her. The neices? Hmm...maybe they were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe Diane resented her brother (perhaps she resented all her brothers because she had all the domestic duties dumped onto her after their mother left).%0D %0D I don't think this suicidal drive was planned out in advance, however. Impulsivity, alcohol, andTHC-induced paranoia, along with anger, perfectionism, and long-simmering resentments coupld have produced this domino effect. Also, I am suprised that no one here at DL has noted that Diane 'pinged' in many of her photos. If she were repressed or closeted, self-loathing could have also accounted for her medicating with alcohol and marijuana (Daniel was, after all, noted to be her one-and-only boyfriend by her high school friends). Perhaps Diane had even more secrets. This would certainly make the issue of 'closet drinking' more plausible.

R46, I thought she pinged as well. Didn't want to bring it up because of the "fat lesbian" stereotype.

All these replies and no one has seen fit to comment on Diane's super-ugly wedding outfit?

I think a large part of her twisted pathology was based on her mother's abandonment of the family to run off with the neighbor. My ex-partner's mother had the same thing happen to her at age 5 and she turned into a control freak extraordinaire. We eventually broke up because of it. I was the only one who called her on it when she made yet another arbitrary, controlling decision on things that had nothing to do with her and he couldn't deal with anyone causing conflict with his mother. I don't know exactly how this impacted Diane's actions that day, but it was certainly an underlying factor.

please, she does not "ping" - she looks like the typical married, unhappy type

does come across as angry, controlling - but in the autopsy report one witness said she looked "panicked" - aside from that, (which makes me wonder) seems pretty much like rage & alcohol-induced murder-suicide. I think there was something that morning, weekend or on a phone call that made an angry person angrier and go over the edge.

On one hand, the pathology is very interesting.

On the other, it's just more trashy people doing trashy things. Shocking but not surprising.

The press initially tried to spin this as "high powered, highly competent New York financial executive does the unthinkable!"

Now we know it's just more "fat white trash frau with too many kids and semi-retarded spouse does what these people tragically do."

See also: the entire state of Florida.

Diane's name should've been Julie--then all would've have been explained.

"See also: the entire state of Florida."

lol!

R42 not sure how you equate not going to college to being uneducated. That's quite a stretch.

Actually she sounded very bright. Nuts, but not stupid.

she did not sound "very bright" - you invented that

she sounded like a lot of people in the US

She pinged for me as well even in photos.%0D %0D The wedding "dress" = fucking UGLY. Who the hell wears that matronly shit? At the time she was only 29 or 30 but looked 55.

No one said she was "stupid" because she didn't go to college.

In the U.S. one is deemed "uneducated" if he or she does not have a college degree. That is the cultural norm, for better or worse.

Can a person without a college degree be very knowledgeable? Of course. No is arguing otherwise.

Can they be very bright? Of course. No one is arguing otherwise.

you people are dreaming thinking that either she "pinged" or he could have an affair with a man!

These are typical republican voting homophobe types living out in the unpopular burbs/sprawl!

[quote]If she was so hell bent on a suicide mission to punish her husband, why not let the 3 little girls out of the van first?

Cause she was a selfish cunt who only cared about herself.

Can no one understand that they either purposely tampered with her blood test or got it mixed up with someone elses. This needs to be investigated. The kids did not say she was drunk. If she had 10 drinks, she would have smelled like booze. She did not.%0D %0D Someone needs to investigate this matter. It would have been completely against her character to drink and drive a bunch of kids. Use your brains to ask a few questions. Why do human beings always have to act like sheep? Whatever they are told, they have to believe, without asking a question. I can tell most of you are young, you never question authority.

The fraus on this thread hate her because she worked hard for a living and did not layabout eating cheetos all day.

there have been a lot of murder-sucides that involve the murder of family members - it's anger, and "getting back" at someone else through killing innocent people

Do these "Diane" threads remind anyone of the "VDO" threads?... (see R59)

I thought the fraus on this thread identify with her and defend her

Oh get a grip, 59. There is ZERO reason for anyone to tamper with her blood results. We're not talking Vince Foster, here.

Her life trajectory doesn't suggest someone with foresight, self-control, or any sense of self-awareness.

So, I doubt her actions were consciously deliberate, though maybe they were unconsciously motivated by a desire for revenge, etc.

So, it's not difficult to believe she impulsively decided to have some drinks on the way home. She may have been one of those people who tell you they drive better with a couple of drinks in them.

Maybe the drinks hit her all of a sudden. You know how you can have 2 drinks and not even be buzzed, so you stupidly decide to have a 3rd?

Then, five minutes after starting your third drink you are suddenly DRUUUUUUUNK and end up puking?

Although I will say I've never been so drunk as to become completely unable to discern where I was.

I did, however, have really bad hypoglycemia a couple of times and completely blacked out (while remaining conscious) and didn't know where I was.

Once it happened in the bathroom and I thought I made it to the toilet but I....um....didn't.

I was sitting on the floor shitting away, all the while thinking I was on the toilet. And I was perfectly sober-- just handn't eaten in about 24 hours and had gone for a 10-mile run the day before. Severe hypoglycemia can hit you very suddenly.

Of course at that time I was also 10 pounds underweight and working out a lot. I don't think Diane had that problem.

R63: No. The fraus are jealous of hard working fraus that take care of their families, as everyone who knew Schuler described her as doing. They are always willing to gossip over actually finding out what really happened.

R59 has a point. The responses dealing with these bizarre allegations of affairs and whatnot do remind me of the vdoers. Read some of the web sites about this case.

"Fraus" gossip about people they envy.

I don't think anyone would envy Schuler's lifestyle.

no, I think the fraus identify with her - her life in many respects is similar to theirs and she and her hubby look like them

"Hard working"? Her job was a pretty hateful one - collections - nasty people harassing people ie worst of fraus.

Though I agree the fraus like to gossip and attack and imagine they are superior. Some would do that but I think a lot identify with her, too.

What is VDO?

I'm not buying the suicide theory either. There are much easier, more reliable and less painful ways of doing it. You don't even know if you crash your car whether you will die or be left paralyzed. Also, why take the kids with you?

I think she was drunk and high and out of her mind-- experiencing a walking black-out. Alcoholics do all sorts of insane things while drunk that they don't even remember later. I don't know why people always (falsely) assume that what a person does and says while under the influence of drugs or alcohol is somehow their "true" persona. Actually, the opposite is the case. People with severe alcohol addiction are not themselves....they become someone different (irrational, belligerent, defiant, aggressive, moody).

If you've ever been close to someone who suffers from addiction then you know what I'm talking about. Once truly sober the person you once knew (and maybe fell in love with) re-emerges.

Yes, in general they gossip and attack people they envy (people that are superior to them in looks, ability, etc). They are full of envy and rage.

But they also like to feel superior, and are desperate to feel superior to people - that is when they attack people on welfare or who have murdered etc and the crime is very obvious - something they haven't done, so they are superior.

I believe in this case the fraus identify with her - they are the ones making excuses for her, though there may be some with the urge to feel superior (ie they haven't killed anyone)

[quote]I meant to add I can't even imagine being uneducated, obese, having a shiftless dolt of a husband, living in a shithole, being solely responsible for 2 kids, AND having to go to a job that's widely known to employ the lowest of the low.

Really R42? You "can't imagine" 90% of the US population? Where do you live?

Why do you all act like you even know any fraus? It's funny how obsessed you are with them.

R72, I don't think 90% of the U.S. population has a life that's as thoroughly bleak as Diane's.

Most people have at least 1 or 2 good things in their life.

They have a spouse who's a dud, but they like their job.

Their jobs suck, but they have a cute house they enjoy.

Their job sucks and they hate where they live, but they have the training and education to theoretically get out of the bad situation.

Etc.

Seems like Diane didn't have anything good in her life.

60-70% live like that for sure

R71: No, if you read the boards discussing the case, for the most part, it is the fraus raking her over the coals. It's the superiority thing, Schuler was obese but she wasn't lazy.

How was her job hateful? She didn't work for one of the collection agencies that buy and sell debt. She worked for cable company itself.

She had great self-control in her life. That does not mean she did not make mistakes.

The media put out so many wrong reports and ignored the official reports.

There was a lag of time between the last call with her brother and the crash where nobody spotted her.

She smoked pot 15 minutes before the crash.

The witness who saw her driving erratically on the first highway noticed her ill at the rest stop.

The cell phone was placed neatly on the cement rail by the side of the road where she was spotted being sick.

Yes, it took some time before WARREN Hance called police, but his wife called the police right away after her husband spoke to Diane the first time.

Warren Hance went to his father's house, picked him up, so he could drive the car back once he found his sister.

Daniel Schuler did NOT lie about when he arrived at the camp site. Police investigated this and found he told the truth. The police cleared him of any involvement.

It's unclear when she started drinking.

R74: She made $100K because she worked hard and moved up the ranks. She had great children, family (no not the husband, and friends.

Fraus are upset because she was not a sloth.

there are lots of sloths that make 100k or around that - check out the govt - not bright people who treat others like shit

HOW DOES SOMEONE SO WASTED DRIVE SO WELL?

Even when she was menacing people on the Thruway she darted through traffic with precision. On the Taconic, she drove like she was "playing a game of chicken": no swerving or erratic moves.

No "frau" would defend this child-killer.

Get over yourselves.

R78: But she didn't treat others like shit, even the Hances agree with that. If she didn't work hard she would not have made that salary. She didn't have a college degree.

Sorry, frau cow.

she didn't treat others like shit? 1. she was in collections - this means treating people like shit all day, every day 2. people that she knew said you "knew how she felt" and was bossy/rude

you sound like the frau, defending her

[quote]HOW DOES SOMEONE SO WASTED DRIVE SO WELL?%0D %0D Practice.

"no 'frau' would defend this child-killer'?"

some would because they identify with the description of her, photos of her, her life

others, yes, would attack her

Someone up thread said that Diane Schuler%E2%80%99s mother was dead, but other people have said that she wasn%E2%80%99t. I%E2%80%99ve watched the documentary, but didn%E2%80%99t DVR it, so if they covered that I missed it. Can someone clear this up for me?

Her mother was only dead to Diane.

Jesus Christ, couldn't she come up with somethin better for her last meal?? McDonald's chic'n selects? She shoudda gone to QT for one of their footlong chili cheese dogs. With a bag of hot chips on the side.

R85 They said that they heard the mother was at the funeral, I thought.

I just watched this documentary and am undecided as to what really went on. It's hard for me to imagine someone drinking so much in such a short amount of time and driving as good as she was. I'm about the same height as Diane but weight close to 100lbs less, 2 drinks would fuck me up (but I guess fat makes a big difference). Something had to be severely wrong for her to make a decision to drink that much with all the kids in the car. The husband is a fucking idiot for saying "Oh maybe she thought the vodka was water".

My vote is that she had a complete breakdown for some reason that the husband isn't disclosing. Maybe he wanted a divorce. Maybe she found out he was fucking around on her. I don't think she got boozed up, high and drove just because of some tooth ache.. that's ludicrous. Maybe she thought she could poison herself with alcohol and would kill herself that way, hence why she drank so much in such a short amount of time was seen possibly throwing up on the side of the road. When she realized that wouldn't work, maybe she took a big hit to calm her stomach and decided "This is it". By that point, I doubt she would even care that the kids would be in the car accident with her.

R83: She didn't. She crashed killing seven people. Nobody described her as bossy or rude, she was blunt. How is asking customers to pay their bill and setting up payment plans rude? You must have lots of experience not paying bills to know something different. She was in charge of billing and collections.

Diane's mother left her for the next door neighbor when Diane was nine years old. Diane was left in charge of the household, consisting of dad and four brothers. Yeah, I wouldn't have anything to do with mom either.

Nobody is defending her. It just boggles the mind how people dream up such bullshit surrounding this woman.

R49, and others who don't think Diane pinged either have gaydar which isn't as good at detecting lesbians, or they didn't watch the documentary and see all the photos of Diane. She had many issues...abandonment, body image, control, etc...and her sexuality might have been among them. This is just another possibility being proposed. We'll never know for sure, unless some woman pops out of the woodwork with proof that they had a relationship (and that is not likely to happen at this late date).%0D %0D ANYWAY...I gathered from the way that Daniel answered the questions about marijuana use, that he was lying (he would not look directly at the camera, or the interviewer when answering questions about marijuana). They probably BOTH smoked it regularly, and he does not want to incriminate himself. I don't doubt that they both were blazing by the campfire, as well as drinking, that weekend (and that this was not unusual for them). %0D %0D r83 hit the nail on the head: practice is how Diane drove so well under-the-influence. She was a high-functioning alcoholic/addict, and she drank/smoked too much that day, and was in a blackout. Daniel can't accept the loss of his 'breadwinner', and is in complete denial of the evidence at hand. He is also a piece of shit for suing the Hances....They lost all their children due of Diane's folly! It really got to me when Jaye was reading the postcard from Mrs. Hance saying "...maybe (their) pain will end soon and they can see their girls again.".

"blunt" is another term for rude

In fact, you are rude to say "you must have lots of experience not paying bills" just because someone criticized the type of people that work in collections - or are you just being "blunt"?

you really identify with and defend her - do you dream of being head of a collections department?

[quote]It just boggles the mind how people dream up such bullshit surrounding this woman.

I agree! For example:

[quote]she was blunt

And you know this how?

[quote]How is asking customers to pay their bill and setting up payment plans rude?

And how do you know this is what she did on a daily basis?

[quote]You must have lots of experience not paying bills to know something different.

And you know this how? Furthermore, how is it relevant?

[quote]Diane was left in charge of the household

And you know this how?

Most people on this thread are more than willing to admit they are speculating. I'm not sure why this flips you out so much, R89.

This is a MYSTERY we are discussing on a GOSSIP website.

It is also unclear why you bitch in several posts about others' speculation, then engage in your own.

It speaks volumes that the husband is suing the Hances, when they lost three children in the crash. Something very bitter went on between these two couples for this loser husband to want to drag them through court.

Me thinks there was cheating or something going on between them.

No, he's just countersuing because they are suing him. That way both sides settle.

In some ways Diane IS having the last laugh on Danny.

Look at the unbelievably huge mess she left that knuckle-dragger to deal with.

And, as we might expect, he is totally incapable of doing anything right.

He's making every mistake in the book (stupid comments to the media, demanding money for participation in documentary, unforgivable comments about raising his son) and going out of his way to invent some new ways of fucking up (suing the in-laws?!)

I'm defending her. No one thought she was an alcoholic but for some reason, she goes aginst character and kills 7 people. Sorry, it doesn't wash. It needs to be investigated and the first place I would start was with the lab that did the blood work.%0D %0D I have known many alcoholics, some secret drunks some always falling down drunks. There were always signs, even if they put their booze in their coffee...you could still see the problem.

I wonder if she was severely sleep-deprived.

I've had some pretty scary close calls when extremely sleep deprived.

And of course the booze wouldn't help.

Maybe she could "normally" drink and drive, but this time something was different-- sleep deprivation, hypoglycemia, acute stress / anxiety attack, etc.

Danny's Story

Here's how I figure it. Diane's inna car, right? She gets a bad headache cuz she feels a stroke comin on. She tries to get the Tylenol gel caps for fast relief, but that friggin Muslin guy at the store don't have em. So she's like "Faggetabowdit, I don't want no slow actin pills!"

She gets back inna car an she's drivin along and this pain from her abscessed tooth comes on. She's like, "Fuckin A, this is the pits! Where's the vodka? I'm gonna take one swigguh this faw my tooth pain." An then, when she's drivin allawng, her diabetes, which has been building up for a long time, since age dint know she had it, starts makin her thirsty!

An she's got the vodka bottle there, but she forgets it's vodka cuz her mind is clouded from the tooth pain. She thinks it's wunna them Dee-ah Pawk waterbottles and she chugs it! Cuz she's so thirsty from the diabetes.

Then, the lump in her leg stawts actin up on her, on toppa the tooth and the stroke and the diabetes. It hurts so much, she's friggin floorin the gas pedal, only she don't know it! Cuzzah the headache an the toothache and the diabetes! So, she's like, disoridented.

An the kid calls her faddah and sex, "Look he-yah, Aunt Diane is actin awl messed up!" and the faddah sex, "I'm comin ta git yiz!" But Diane takes the phone an sees what time it iz an sez, "Holy shit, kids! We godda git home!"

An she takes off like a battowddah hell. An I'm home watching the rosary on television and prayin, cuz like, I didn't make Mass in the mawnin. An me an the dawg is praying ta Gawd thankkin him for our byootyfull lives an awl. An then we git this phone call from Diane's asshole brutha an his hoity toity wife an I'm all confused becaws I'm sayin the Acta Contrishun an thinkin hly thoughts. An all hell breaks loose.

An she crashed the caw. It was all becawssa the medical problems she had becaws she's like, a very frightened person about doktiz an shit, so she don't go to no doktiz. She's also frugal-like, an likes to spend money on jeeps an purses instedda these he-yah doktiz that'll robbya blind with all their tests and pokin at ya.

An that's how it happened, an now I'm suin everybody cawz they been really nasty about my Diane, who wuz a saint an now I'm all fucked up tryin ta do stuff like laundry an bills an childcare an shit.

R90 in the first thread the police report linked, or at least the first couple of pages. In the police report Daniel says he knew she smoked pot regularly to "help her sleep"

Since her mother was still alive, and her brothers had some sort of relationship with her, and had forgiven her for abandoning the family, if she (Diane) found out that her husband, and/or other family members had taken the kids behind her back to see her mother and the children had developed, or started to develop a relationship with her, would that be enough to push her over the edge? %0D %0D %0D She had lived her life, until that point, as if she didn%E2%80%99t have a mother, in a way punishing her mother for leaving the family. So finding out that her children, and (possibly) her nieces had a relationship %E2%80%9Dbehind her back%E2%80%9D with this woman, that Diane seemed to hate beyond human comprehension, might have been enough to push someone with all of her issues,(and possibly still a bit drunk from the night before) into making a horrendous decision. Her driving around drinking and toking could have been her working her nerve up to the final act. What better way to punish the woman who defined much of her life, by her absence, than by taking away her grand-children?%0D

Oh yeah -- the pot.

She wuz all naseous-like, cuz she dint realize she was chuggin down all that friggin vodka. So she sez, "I'm gunna smoke a jay to keep from throwin up. It worked when I had mawnin sickness in my pregganancies!" So she gits owda the car and tokes up at the rest stop. She probly tole the kids she hadda take a piss, an went intta the cubicle and smoked a blunt.

R96, nobody SAID they thought she was an alcoholic. Big difference there. If her family admitted it, they might be exposing themselves to liability. Danny kept backtracking - first she didn't smoke pot, then she did occasionally, the she did every night to go to sleep. First he said she didn't drink, then she did once in awhile. The family is covering up. She was a high-functioning drunk. It's easy to hide, especially from a clueless husband who works different hours.

In the NY Magazine article, Danny was asked if he and Diane talked. He said, "Sure, when she asks me to clean the roof gutters." He was and is in major denial. She had a lot of demons and he had no clue. Perhaps (subconsciously) she married him because he was the kind of guy who wouldn't question her.

I'm undecided as to whether it was suicide or an accident. There are good arguments both ways.

"Can no one understand that they either purposely tampered with her blood test or got it mixed up with someone elses. This needs to be investigated. The kids did not say she was drunk. If she had 10 drinks, she would have smelled like booze. She did not."%0D %0D You're the stupid troll from the other TSWWAD thread who keeps saying she was "ill" not drunk and that there is a conspiracy to blame poor innocent Diana Schuler for the horrific deaths of four children and two men. Go fuck yourself in the ass, you annoying fucktard!%0D %0D

Danny is not hiding anything. As his mother said, Diane was another mother to him. He works nights to avoid the family and responsibility. Diane hired a babysitter and had family take care of the children during the day. His sister-in-law was pissed he continues to do it now. He didn't really know his wife, but those that know her say she was not an alcoholic.

"I'm defending her. No one thought she was an alcoholic but for some reason, she goes aginst character and kills 7 people. Sorry, it doesn't wash. It needs to be investigated and the first place I would start was with the lab that did the blood work."%0D %0D You've ALWAYS been defending her. You're the troll who keeps posting about how there "needs to be an investigation" and the the blood work may have been "tampered with" and how "out of character (you don't know anything about her fucking "character')" it was for her to do anything to endanger her precious children and nieces. %0D %0D You are a deranged cunt. %0D %0D

Why would her blood work have been tampered with? She was an anonymous fat frau from Long Island, it's not like she was Princess Diana. Jesus.

Why would a child say that Aunt Diane was drunk? Very few 8 yr olds know what drunk is. The have no frame of reference for it. %0D %0D Sick they understand, but being drunk no.%0D %0D %0D There is no way anyone would alter the test results. Why would anyone want to do that? What would be gained? Anyway, they re-tested and also did DNA testing to make sure the blood tested was Dianes and the tests came back with the same results%0D %0D

I think she started out the day hungover, continued drinking during the drive and was drunk by the time she talked to her brother at 1 pm. If I understand the autopsy report (and I'm not sure I do) her blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit already and she had vodka in her stomach that hadn't entered her bloodstream. She also smoked a joint as recently as 15 minutes before her death. I guess I just need to believe that this was extremely poor judgment rather than a suicide mission, but she clearly drank and smoked herself into near mental incapacitation directly before the accident. She may have understood that she got on the highway going the wrong way but just couldn't function mentally enough at that point to figure out what do next.

{quote]You're the stupid troll from the other TSWWAD thread who keeps saying she was "ill" not drunk and that there is a conspiracy to blame poor innocent Diana Schuler for the horrific deaths of four children and two men. Three men, not two. The stupid fat druggie alkie cunt killed 7 people, 4 kids and 3 men.

[quote]Even when she was menacing people on the Thruway she darted through traffic with precision. On the Taconic, she drove like she was "playing a game of chicken": no swerving or erratic moves.

She was a road bully who often had road rage issues according to friends. I think being drunk just made it even worse. I can imagine her thinking "get the fuck out of my way". I used to know a guy who would speed up on people's tail and flash his headlights when they wouldn't get out of his way. He would purposefully cut people off by almost clipping their front end. Total asshole and I quit riding with him. I think Diane was the female version of this.

I can't find the NY Magazine article- can someone please link??

here r111:

How come no one says anything about this woman leaving the kids alone at the rest stop or gas station? %0D %0D Also how long into the trip did the kids go to McD ? Wouldn't the kids needed to go to the bathroom?

Here is what I think:%0D %0D She made several stops. The one at the gas station is dwelled upon solely because there was a camera.%0D %0D But she took 4 hours for a 2 hour trip so there has to be more stops. %0D %0D I think she took a sip for relaxation and then it just balooned into a total nightmare.%0D %0D It was being drunk like she had never been before.For whatever reason.%0D %0D I have gotten really drunk before. Not like that, but I can understand it. She lost all rationale.

#98, I fucking choked on my Dove Bah i was laughing so fuckin' hod.

Love AR98 too. Just know you ah appreciated.

This is awful but this part really should be taken into consideration - Blackout!

...once I drank myself into a blackout. I had forgotten I had taken an ativan the night before. The ativan took the two gin and tonics I had and made me feel like I had drank about 12 of them.

According to reports, (as I remember nothing), I had to be carried out and driven home - that said - I still got into my apartment myself (much to my friends collective shock)and took off my clothes and went to bed.

While in a blackout

When I woke up, my keys and wallet were in the place they usually were kept.

While in a blackout

I had even locked and bolted the apartment door..

While in a blackout..

I have no idea what it must be like to drive in a blackout....but if I could remember to take off my clothes, arrange my wallet and keys and lock and bolt my apartment door ...and actually do all these with no effort ...while mentally dead to the world...

...who knows what this broad could do..

I've been reading these posts with a morbid curiousity. There is also a weird fascination with the bizarre way people try to rationalize the behavior of this woman.%0D %0D 1. She was drunk%0D 2. She smoked pot%0D 3. People died%0D %0D Now let's get on the page. If she was a Mr. and not a Mrs., would we have all these conspiracy theories? No. Irresponsible husband who should not have been driving. No "victim" of his "environment," no nonsense about blood tests, yada, yada, yada. In fact, if the innocent men who were killed that day were gay...oh right. Let's not go there. %0D %0D She was responsible for a horrific accident. End. of. discussion.

Diane wuz nevah dead ta da world. Diane wuz always very alive. That I can vouch faw til my dyin day. Diane wuz very alive an not dead until she crashed the caw.

She wasn't going to get drunk and drive the kids. It did not happen. There are several conditions that could have caused her actions. Her blood samples were obviously tampered with.

I don't know about 'choo bitches, but I wann'a hear mawh from DANny! (R98) He's too freakin' hilAIReeyuz.

Wasn't there a more recent article in New York Magazine, maybe just a couple of months ago or so? Can't find it in a search in any case.

I found the death photos disturbing...I got no sense that that was Diane. I know her face was bashed up after a horrific crash, but I still saw no resemblance between the dead woman and all the photos of Diane we'd seen.

I think we're all Diane, really. She drank a bottle of vodka, smoked a jay and killed seven people so that we all (except for those seven people) could live.

R98 LMFAO. Perfect!

When did part 2 air?

R117, I think your hypothosis might be the closest yet. Tho even if we figure out exactly why this happened we'll never know for sure, the only one who knows why this happened isn't talking

R98, that was excellent.

Re: the comment about kids not having a frame of reference for drunks or whatever -- Kids who grow up with alcoholic parents easily recognize drunken behavior and they know exactly what's going on. Whoever made that statement earlier in the thread obviously didn't have any drunks in his/her family.

R128 you're most likely right. I grew up in a house where there was very little drinking, and as such didn't understand drunk untill I was much older. Good point.

The oddest thing for me about the documentary was the interview with her best friend. The woman really had nothing good to say about Diane, basically said she was a controlling bitch. And this was her best friend? That's messed up.%0D %0D

My father was an alcholic when I was growing up amd he would pee in another room thinking it was the bathroom. If Diane WAS an alcolic she hid it from everyone..%0D %0D Then again it doesn't matter, you don't have to be an alcholic to be a drunk driver...

So, do you think Danny and Aunt Jay regret being a part of that documentary? Neither one was painted in a favorable light *(Danny looked the worst, but still...) I'm guessing they watched the show and went "Oh. My. Gawd. We got fucked over." That's how I'd feel. Then again, who knows? Are they even that self aware?

R128 that's very interesting. How old would a child have to be to put a name to it? What if the person was drinking in secret(with no obvious cause and effect)?. I'm assuming there would need to be some education/information from outside sources in such a case?

The thing that makes no sense to me(though none of it does really) is if she was a high fuctioning alcholic (which to me sounds plausible, as she seemed by all accounts, well at least up to the accident, to be in control of the car) why didn't signs of alcholism show up in her autopsy? Surely driving a car with that BAC, for such a distance and with the kind of precision she showed would take years of practise?

How long does one have to drink before it would show up in your liver etc? Would being a binge drinker as opposed to a regular heavy drinker take longer to show up? Lots of questions and not many answers

It's so simple. Hello!

Diane, being rich and all, hired a body double that she would use when she needed to get "away for a while".

This is why Diane seemed sober at the gas station.

That was the 'Real" Diane".

Sometime, between then and the Taconic, (my hunch is the rest stop) the "fake Diane"(let's call her "Mary") took Diane's place.

"Mary" was told Diane needed her to drop the kids off, go to the kids play, and blow Danny.

This sent "Mary" into a tailspin.

The end result is the real Diane is trapped. She can't come back and she can't move ahead.

Very sad!

Yo DANNY, aka R98, come back!

R19, Danny actually hired the same lawyer joey buttafucco had.%0D %0D %0D %0D %0D For all we know, Diane could have had a boyfriend who dumped her just as she was ready to leave her husband. There was something going on with Diane and her brother or someone else and her brother knew about it.%0D %0D %0D %0D It will come out at trial because dumb dan is suing Diane's brother and SIL. Can you believe that pos? They are suing him back. I wouldn't mind watching that trial

In response to R132, Jay yes, Daniel, no. I don't think he is capable of self awareness

Trial, R136? I can't imagine any of these lawsuits going that far. At least, I hope not.

When Jay was going through Diane's medical records, you could see on the printout that she was prescribed Hydrocodone and Ambien at one time, both of which can cause major confusion when combined with alcohol. I wonder if she was still taking either of them at the time of the accident?

"For all we know, Diane could have had a boyfriend who dumped her just as she was ready to leave her husband."

Yes, and for all we know, that boyfriend might have superpowers such as invisibility or the ability to fly. Diane might have tried to break up with him and while invisible he may have filled her water bottle with vodka, which has no flavor or smell and is often mistaken for tap water. Then he might have flown around her car while she was driving, leading her Pied Piper-like, the wrong way down the highway.

For all we know.

Everybawdy is tawkin abowt how I don't do nuttin inna daytime. Well I gotta night job, I work faw a livin, unlike some people. An I gotta lotta grief, ya know? I'm workin on my grief. I lawst my wife. And the kid ... the little one, whutsHerName. I miss her too, sometimes. An my three nieces got offed, too.

But I don't feel bad abowt those Eye-talians inna othuh caw. You know how Eye-talians are, always tawkin with the hands. The driver was probly tawkin abowt some sausage an peppahs he wuz gonna make when he gits home, all tawkin with his hands an stuff.

"An I'm a-gonna make-ah the sausage an peppahs wit a lotta duh gawlic, lots and lotsa gawlic. An I'm a-gonna drinka some wine..." Hey, did anybody check his alcohol level in his awtopsy? I'm freakin serious. You know these Eye-ties are always growin grapes inna backyawd and stomping em inna basement, makin their own homebrew.

So no, I'm not sad that they bawt the fawm. Diane probly did everybawdy a fayvuh by takin them owt.

Where are you all seeing these dead photos of Turnpike Mom? In the documentary? I DVR'd it but haven't watched it yet.

Yes, the images are towards the very end of the documentary.

The impression I got r130 was after dumb Danny tried to make Diane look like a saint the filmmakers told the BF to tell what Diane was really like..%0D %0D What I thought was odd was how taken aback the SIL was when she thought Diane 'liked her'... %0D %0D I also thought it was strange how Danny kept photo albums in the attic...

I Zillow'd their house for the hell of it. They paid $340,000 for it in 2003. Zillow estimates it is worth $319k. West Babylon is very popular with the people who grew up there. It is heavily Irish Catholic. I went to Catholic high school 30 years ago in West Islip with a ton of kids from Babylon/ West Babylon. Most of them still live there. They bought houses there when they grew up and live close to their extended families.

Taxes on the house are close to $10,000 a year. Lot size is a little over 8,000 sq ft.

I could post a screencap of dead murderous cow but am afraid it would offend the thin skinned dlers.

that sounds like a Masion. A pic?

Post it with a warning. r146?

WTF? $300 + for that house? It looks like shit! I can't believe houses such a that one could be so expensive. Disgusting.%0D %0D DANNY @ R341 keep it comin', keep it comin', I'm dyin' here! Very funny with tha sawsage and tha peppas.

Ok. GRAPHIC, don't click if you are easily offended:

Dead Diane 1

$350k is cheap for a house on Long Island. It has some of the highest home prices in the nation. It was America's first suburb.

Ok. GRAPHIC, don't click if you are easily offended:

Dead Diane 2

Thanks R146- Now I can watch the documentary. I kept putting it off after reading on DL that you see her body fall out of the car, which I found out is not true.

Why does her face look SO bloated? ALcohol or internal injuries?

I can't stand the real life Daniel Schuler, but OH My GAWD, "DL DANNY" totally rules! More please?

Danny howz it goin' out in Lawn Guyland today?

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the fact that West Babylon is only 20 minutes from Sayville. Sayville is where you catch the ferry to Fire Island.

Looking at those photos, it doesn't look like she was burned. Didn't the car catch fire?

About those photos of her...for somebody who died in a horrific car crash she doesn't look that bad. I've seen pictures of some car crash victims where they're so mangled or burned they look like butchered meat. %0D %0D I wonder if the children and the men who died looked worse. Probably.

This doc. really stayed with me - powerful, but depressing.

I can't believe there are so many retarded people in one place. You guys would drink a bottle of vodka and drive the kids. Diane would not.

But she did, R161. That's EXACTLY what she did.

Thanks for the photo, R146.

Those earrings she had on were hideous.

[quote]I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the fact that West Babylon is only 20 minutes from Sayville. Sayville is where you catch the ferry to Fire Island.

Maybe because it's irrelevant to the discussion. Besides, there are three towns where you can catch the ferry to FI.

Irrelevant to the discussion? I assume you've only been skimming the two threads on this bad documentary?

The thing I don't understand is all the lawsuits flying around. Danny is suing the Bastardis and the Hances. The Bastardis are suing the Hances and Danny and the Hances are suing Danny. Color me naive, but where is any settlement money coming from asuming the judges don't throw the cases out? Would the insurance coverage on the cars even be sufficient to pay for attorneys fees and costs?

R139, I frequently take Ambien on camping trips, and wash down Vicodin with a bottle of vodka before my pre-family road trip smoke. So I can see why a nice lady like Diane would have done that, innocently thinking she would arrive at her destination safely, and not have to face jail time or alienate her family. It was a freak accident and a mystery.

I think it's time to bring Jessica Fletcher back for one last case......

I think Danny "better call Saul!" for help with his lawsuits.

maybe she was just a mean bitsh who decided to punish her whole family by killing the family line. was it just pure chance she had all the kids together when she did this? did she have the whole bunch with her that often? perhaps it was planned.

Casting for the HBO movie:%0D %0D Diane - Rosie O'Donnell%0D %0D Danny - Patton Oswalt%0D %0D Jay - Melissa Leo%0D %0D %0D ..%0D %0D %0D %0D

R158, the van caught fire in the engine compartment first, so the two onlooker guys that got there first had time to drag her out of the van and then pull out the children before the entire van was engulfed.

I watched that the other nite. I am from the West Coast so there wasn't much news about that entire thing (or I missed it). that said: 1) no way was it a suicide. people don't take out their kids, their nieces and nephews, etc . . . she could never have been THAT angry at everybody in her in-law family. 2) she wasn't that drunk. "10 drinks" is a measurement made from the vodka bottle in "standard shot" measurement. That equals about 6 drinks in a bar (from a bar tenders pour...no one pours a standard shot except casinos). If she was even a social drinker that wasn't much. 3) everyone is missing the entire thing. she had an abscessed tooth. Those are so painful and the pain comes on stronger and stronger. she had kids in the car, trying to get home so she could get to the hospital, drinking vodka to kill the pain that people have described as a massive migraine. that's why she got lost, lost her phone, was in a panic. the child said "she's sick." she was probably halucinating from the pain. I've heard of this happening before.

[quote]1) no way was it a suicide. people don't take out their kids, their nieces and nephews, etc . . . she could never have been THAT angry at everybody in her in-law family%0D %0D Of course they do. It seems to happen every other week here in the U.S. Usually, a family where there's going to be a divorce, typically mom leaving dad, or where there are financial problems. Dad kills the whole family then takes his own life.%0D %0D And the tooth abcess has been discussed across the two threads. IIRC, the coronor didn't find any evidence of it.

[quote]people don't take out their kids, their nieces and nephews, etc.%0D %0D Google "family annihilators".%0D %0D [quote]she wasn't that drunk. "10 drinks" is a measurement made from the vodka bottle in "standard shot" measurement. That equals about 6 drinks in a bar (from a bar tenders pour...no one pours a standard shot except casinos). If she was even a social drinker that wasn't much.%0D %0D If she was only a social drinker and not an habitual boozehound then she would have been more incapacitated by her alcohol intake that day, not less. According to the toxicology report Diane Schuler's BAC was 0.19, well over the legal limit of 0.08. She had 6 grams of alcohol in her stomach that had not even been absorbed into her bloodstream at the time of the collision, and she smoked pot just prior to the crash.%0D %0D She was too intoxicated to drive.%0D %0D And I doubt social drinkers keep bottles of vodka in the car with them and drink while driving a van full of children.

So she had a little drinkiepoo. Is that so terrible?

R186, the only acceptable casting for Jay is Drae Matteo. Same hard as nails sharp features and "smoker's face."

yes, about the "legal limit" stuff. I am a social drinker bordering on 20-something boozehound ... .08 is a good burp. Also, in my parents time the "legal limit" was 1.5. So, unless alcohol has changed 1.9 is only .04 over the legal age 50 years ago. I just don't think 1.9 puts you in the state of mind to behave the way she did. her behavior was soooo off the charts. This is far more than just being drunk and splitting a joint in the morning. she was out of her mind. The argument that social drinkers don't have bottles of vodka in their car is a good one and would put her in a whole other arena in regards to her drinking. But again, she was out of her mind. suicide? that would be about the 1,767,949 way I'd chose to kill myself. And also to take out the nieces and nephews...??? remember, her messages and conversations before then seemed fine. This woman had a psychotic breakdown of some sort. If it wasn't the abscessed tooth ... then she went, in technical terms, bonkers. I just don't think the behavior fits a drunk person. Especially if she was an experienced drinker. The accident fits a drunk person, but not the lead up.

Oops, I meant R171

I just realized something. this site is full of queens. I had no idea this was a gay website until the post about casting for the TV drama about this. Seeing as to how I work in the "Industry" Drea ("ea" not "ae") is much too busy celebrating her lesbianism to do a TV movie.

I bet R178 would blow a .19 right now.

Becuase it aint gettin old soon - Danny!

"Why does her face look SO bloated? ALcohol or internal injuries?"%0D %0D It wasn't due to injuries. She was five feet three inches tall and weighed 203 pounds, according to the autopsy report. Obviously the bloating came from drinking and eating and never getting any exercise. %0D %0D

"If she was even a social drinker that wasn't much. 3) everyone is missing the entire thing. she had an abscessed tooth. Those are so painful and the pain comes on stronger and stronger. she had kids in the car, trying to get home so she could get to the hospital, drinking vodka to kill the pain that people have described as a massive migraine. that's why she got lost, lost her phone, was in a panic. the child said "she's sick." she was probably halucinating from the pain. I've heard of this happening before."%0D %0D Oh shut up, you fucking troll. You really need to give it a rest with all your bullshit about the "abscessed tooth" and "massive migraine" and "halucinating from the pain." It's been proved that Schuler was blind drunk and stoned. Why keep making an ass of yourself? %0D

[quote][R158], the van caught fire in the engine compartment first, so the two onlooker guys that got there first had time to drag her out of the van and then pull out the children before the entire van was engulfed

I hope those two guys got some therapy. I can't imagine what must have been like taking those children out of the car.

preach it r184. Who is the loon that keeps insisting it was some medically condition.

Her dead-by-the-side-of-the-road pictures remind me of Queen Victoria.

The Queen was a short, blue-eyed, pudgy little thing like Diane Schuler.

Maybe it the hair being pulled back that helps with this association.

O'donnell is way too old to play Diane. It has to be someone in the 35-40 range. Maybe someone could go method and gain weight for the role.

Melissa McCarthy as Diane

My aunt became an alcoholic after my uncle died and drove her car into the bank. Smashed it right into the brick wall. Of course, she blamed it on the accelerator. Townspeople joked for years that she thought it was a drive-thru bank.

[quote] everyone is missing the entire thing. she had an abscessed tooth. Those are so painful and the pain comes on stronger and stronger. she had kids in the car, trying to get home so she could get to the hospital, drinking vodka to kill the pain that people have described as a massive migraine. that's why she got lost, lost her phone, was in a panic. the child said "she's sick." she was probably halucinating from the pain. I've heard of this happening before.

Eggsakly. . This is what I keep telling people, but they ain't lissnin.

Diane was usin the vodka to wash away the pain of the abscessed tooth and the extreme headache from huh stroke that was commin on. On toppa that, the diabetes that was slowly building insydah huh body sprang out, like that thing in "Alien." Huh diabetes was percolatin insydah huh like a round baby alien that went BOING and suddenly took ovah huh. The diabetes made huh really thirsty and she kept chuggin the vodka like it was wawduh.

Then, she feels all nauseous, like when she was pregganent an had the friggin mawnin sickness, so she blew a joint like she did when she was pregganent with the kids. The combination made huh disorientated and whammo, these friggin Eyetalians are drivin along with 91 year old Uncle Joon in the caw with them an he was probly singin some stupid moon in yer eye like a big pizza pie song, an peein his pants, and distractin the guy who's drivin,, who's talkin about the sausage an peppahs he's gonna make when he gits home. So the Eyeties don't see her commin, like everyone else did an they run inta huh.

Awlla this cudda bin avoided if NY state had proppah signs on the roadway, saying, "Don't go This Way!". I mean, how hodd is that? Just a freakin sign on the entry ramp sayin, ""This is a exit, not a entry!""

Then everybawdy would still be alive today, excep maybe Uncle Joon over there who was livin in borrowed time anyways. I mean cone on, the guy wuddah been 93 years old, pissin an shittin himself an tellin stories about comin ovah heyah to America on the Nina, or the Santa Maria or the Pinanta.

An didna read what wunna them Eyeties said? That he moved owtta Yonkiz because hd dint want to deal with "ask the bs in Yonkiz." Ya know what he's tawkin abawt! BLACK PEOPLE. Yeah, he wuz a racist!

Me, I don't have a racist bone in my bawdy. I once worked with a black guy. He wuz actually married to the woman who had his child. I'm tellinya, he wuz a good guy. His named was sumthin like Kerwin or Kendril an his wife had some name like Jackqueel or sumthin. I dunno. I forget if his kid was a boy or a girl, but we wuz good buddies onna job.

So maybe Diane saved a black person offering out the racist Eyetalians there. I mean, they're always cawllin the blacks "moolies" an "eggplants" an whutevah.

If I wuz black, I wud be breathin a sigh of freakin relief, I'm tellinya.

I gotta apologize. I'm usin my bruddah's freakin iPhone heyah an it keeps transposin different words onto my writin, so it's makin me sound disorientaded like Diane wuz.

Ya see how easy it is to be disorientaded?

"O'donnell is way too old to play Diane. It has to be someone in the 35-40 range. Maybe someone could go method and gain weight for the role."%0D %0D She could still play Diane. Diane Schuler looked much older than her actual age, due to her alcoholism and obesity. %0D %0D

If MEN hadn't forced her into a warped vision of the world and her place in it, our sister and those precious children would be alive today.

Our DL Danny sounds as deluded as real Danny.

DL Danny should authenticate.

Good casting, R189 !

Kathy Bates would have been great for this about 25 years ago.

Anyone have a link to the Part I of this series?%0D %0D After reading the NYT Mag and seeing the pix I want to know what killed her. Physically she didn't look like hamburger - was it internal injuries? Brain injury? %0D %0D

I think I recall her autopsy said she had a broken neck (two places) and her heart was separated from her aorta (or maybe it was a pulmonary artery?) -- something major with her heart being torn by the impact.

Thanks, r201.%0D %0D After seeing the pic at r146 and the minivan photo (or what's left of it), I can't believe she didn't LOOK much worse.%0D %0D And I really feel bad for those poor kids. Especially when the bro heard them crying in the background. They were terrified.

That's gross. You never really think about internal injuries....shit.

Because of the speed of the van and her huge mass, it would have taken a mile for her to come to rest safely. It's simple physics.%0D %0D Obviously, this didn't happen and her organs went smush.%0D %0D

I think she was a habitual drinker and probably often drove the kids around after drinking. I know someone who you guys would call a typical suburban frau and she and her husband both routinely take their kids on errands with drinks in the car with them. Big mixed drinks in those big oversize coffee mugs with lids. Always. I think that morning Diane had had very little sleep and was still possibly drunk and just kept on drinking on the way home.

R205, I hope those people live in NYS and get caught. It is now a felony to drive drunk with children in the car. %0D %0D I have a thing about drunk driving. It is completely irresponsible. Yeah, I did it when I was young and stupid. Since my 20s, however, I won't even have a beer and drive.

"O'donnell is way too old to play Diane. It has to be someone in the 35-40 range. Maybe someone could go method and gain weight for the role."

With proper make-up and some digital tinkering O'Donnell can pass for an alcoholic 30 something woman. Plus, she has rage and control issues down pat.

[quote]That's gross. You never really think about internal injuries....shit.%0D %0D Yeah. I think that disturbs me more than anything.

ENOUGH!%0D %0D Editor, shut it down!

"DL DANNY" -can you please, please, pretty please authenticate? I would like nothing more than to hear you chime in with your Long Island wisdom on other threads! (Same thing with DL Diane)

Danny! Come tawlk to us.

[quote]I think I recall her autopsy said she had a broken neck %0D %0D Atlanto-occipital dislocation (aka internal decapitation). Her skull separated from her spinal column.

If Robin Tunney were willing to gain 120 pounds to play Diane, she'd make an interesting casting choice.

I can't think of an actor as dumb-looking as Danny.

Can you imagine if you died in a horrific accident and the photos of your dead body were all over TV and the internet? That would be horrible to be introduced to the world that way.

R214, I think most of us have the good sense not to get totally wasted, drive drunk, and kill so many people, especially one's own kids and relatives.%0D %0D

This is the role that will make Kathy Brier a stah!

Enough about the drunk driving mom (wow what a "mystery", a drunk driver drove like a lunatic and killed people you say? will wonders never cease!). Buried in this pile of word fecal matter is this:

[quote]Seeing as to how I work in the "Industry" Drea ("ea" not "ae") is much too busy celebrating her lesbianism to do a TV movie.

What? Drea Dematteo is a lesbian?

Dawn French does a good American accent. She's still fat enough to play Diane.

I don't see how she could keep alcoholism from her entire family and I don't think her in-laws would give her their kids and their minivan for a long drive if they even suspected she was a drunk. Strange story.

I just watched the film. I can't read through 800 posts. Is there anyone in this thread who has any sympathy for her husband?

No.

Michael Chiklis should be cast as Danny Shuler

Every third post is exactly like yours, r219. This thread and posts like yours are the DL equivalent of a John Cage symphony.

well then, happy to do my part

One more post after this one you should post again, saying you just don't see how the brother would let his kids go with her if he knew she had a drinking and drug problem.

R178, %0D %0D %0D Alcohol in a person's blood stream isn't immediate. When you drink, it takes some time for the alcohol to enter your blood stream. It climbs (and decreases) at a certain rate. It's just like mediation. Just because alcohol isn't in your blood stream, doesn't mean the alcohol doesn't have an effect on you. It does. It just means your body hasn't registered it yet. Of course once a person dies, their blood alcohol level won't climb any more. All metabolism stops permanently %0D %0D %0D %0D %0D Go drink a fifth of liquor. It will have an effect on you and your behavior before the liquor will register completely in your blood stream. And if you throw up, you might have gotten the alcohol out of your stomach (and essentially out of your blood stream), but you don't become sober then. You're still drunk and mentally impaired %0D %0D %0D %0D %0D And according to witnesses, Diane threw up two different times, so that would have decreased her blood alcohol level, while she would still be impaired by the alcohol. She drank a LOT that day

Where's DL Danny today?

He's sleeping because he works the night shift guarding the park.

Is it wrong of me that this is my favorite thread, like, ever?

Me too. Like reading about 'Turn Around Turnpike Mom.'

[quote]He's sleeping because he works the night shift guarding the park.%0D %0D What exactly does he guard? Curious about how strenous it is. When my brother was in college he was a security guard at a rest home. He wasn't on his feet that much - he used to be able to do his homework and he'd go in the back room and nap. Wonder if that's the kind of gig Danny has as he doesn't seem too ambitious.%0D %0D %0D %0D

"as he doesn't seem to ambitious."

Youse say dat like dat's a bad ting.

I just don't think the brother would have let his kids get in the minivan with her if he knew she had a drinking problem.

Please. Her brother probably just wanted to get rid of the kids for a weekend so he could play hide the salami with his wife. I hope his 2 second orgasm was worth it.

One common side-effect of smoking pot is paranoia. If she were already drunk when she started smoking (such as when she pulled over after the bridge and left her phone), the prospect of waiting for her brother might have become fear of the authorities catching her so obviously intoxicated while waiting.

So the entire wandering path to and excursion onto Taconic Parkway might have been her evading imaginary pursuit.

I think the main question to ol portly aunt Diane isn't "Was she drunk? Why was she drinking?" but rather why did she drive the wrong way on the freeway for so long-- suicide or stupidity? You'd think she would have realized something was up after the 10th car honked at her and swerved out of the way.

Danny probably said he was gonna pork her in the rear when she got back and she couldn't take it anymore.

I wonder if she pissed off one too many lab technicians by hassling them over their delinquent cable bills and so they fucked with her autopsy stuff.

People in this thread that INSIST that the cow's lab results were tampered with, like R236, are insane. She wasn't a politician or a CIA agent, morons. She was a fucking fat cow with an ordinary job. Get the fuck over it.

To play Diane: Nancy McKeon in a fatsuit

To play Danny: Kevin Federline

read the signature on 236, r237. I know I was being far toooooo subtle for you.

Diane looked extra bloated in the death photos because she had massive artery tears. Her upper body was basically blowing up like a water balloon.

Compare the photos with how she looked in the gas station video. She still had a visible jaw line.

Internal decapitation? So gruesome.

No one has mentioned that it looks like there is a huge chunk of her left arm missing in the photos, yet there isn't a lot of blood. Weird.

[quote]Diane looked extra bloated in the death photos because she had massive artery tears. Her upper body was basically blowing up like a water balloon.

I never thought about it, but it makes sense that the blood from internal injuries would expand within a body.

Even more than the errant blood, the fluid shift going on from the trauma would make her swell.

"I don't see how she could keep alcoholism from her entire family and I don't think her in-laws would give her their kids and their minivan for a long drive if they even suspected she was a drunk. Strange story."%0D %0D Her entire family was a bunch of clueless morons. If she had been at a family gathering staggering and slurring her words they probably would have said that she was just "tired" and needed to take a little nap. %0D %0D That her family would have ignored or absolutely denied that she had a drinking problem is not an unusual thing. Families ignore or deny all kinds of things: drug addiction, physical abuse, sexual abuse. For some people it really is preferable to pretend something doesn't exist rather than confront reality, even if the abuse is occurring within your own family. ESPECIALLY if it's occurring within your own family.

Yoos guys gotta know I YAM ambitious. Me and my lawyah...you know, da one dat helped dat Buttafucko guy, we're gunna have da whole state a New Yawk on der knees to us. Deys gunna be apoligizin' to us ina finanshul way, if ya know wadda mean. How do dey ekspec ennybuddy wid a belly full of vodka and a few js inum to drive the right direction down da road wit alladem confusin' signs and awl?! Fuckin' a!!! I got bills to pay, and Diane ain't here nockin' down 100Gs a year ennymore. Me and my boy, uh... whatshisname, we gotta have help. We need food, cable, beeah, and viagra like ennybuddy else!

[quote]So the entire wandering path to and excursion onto Taconic Parkway might have been her evading imaginary pursuit.%0D %0D I think this is a very plausible scenario.

I finally watched this documentary. It left me with a very sad feeling about those dead children. Let's face it something had to be terribly wrong for Diane to drive such a long way going against traffic. So yes she was drunk and had no idea what she was doing. Those poor children must have been absolutely petrified with fear and begging for help the whole time.%0D %0D I thought the conversation between the blonde SIL and the lawyer was so telling. She kept asking what to do next. How about letting go this stupid Diane would never do this and getting on with her life. Don't get so invested in someone elses life. I was glad the little boy is finally getting therapy. The dad just is a flake and I hope the kid manages to scramble into a decent life despite the dad. Dad will marry another loser and the kid will suffer.

But she did, Blanche! She DID!

Lisa Whelchel (Blair from The Facts of Life) as Diane. Some brown hair die and about 20 more pounds should do it.

I finally watched this too (courtesy of the link someone provided - thanks!) and I am more confused than ever about what happened. She didn't seem like a bad person, or a bad mother. So why did she down all that vodka on the drive home?

It seems odd to me that she called her brother and told him she felt ill. Would someone who never wanted others to know she was in pain do this? It seems more likely that her niece called him, and he asked to talk to Diane. He probably told her to pull over and wait for him, but she didn't. Or maybe she said she would, and that is why he didn't call 911? He could tell she was drunk/high, and after getting her to promise she would stay put and wait for him, he figured it would be better for her if the police weren't involved. He was her brother, and she took care of him when he was little, so I can understand wanting to protect her. OR, she hadn't started drinking yet, and just said she wasn't feeling well (maybe this was after she vomited) and the idea of her brother coming to "rescue" her and the kids was so unbearable to her that she opted to drink/toke a little to kill the pain so she could keep going?

I think she called her brother AFTER he left to meet her, and told him not to bother, that she was fine.

Is it possible she wanted to show everyone that she was NOT too drunk to drive, and kept driving anyway? Witnesses said she looked very determined, or something like that, and she was driving straight. Straight but in the wrong direction.

There are unexplained chunks of time - why did this trip take 4 hours? If she pulled over TWICE to vomit, why did she still have so much alcohol in her stomach? And when did she smoke the joint(s)?

I get horrible migraines, and one of the symptoms is nausea. I wonder if she had a migraine, and that is why she stopped for painkillers. I have never been drunk or high (honest!) so I don't know if alcohol would help kill the pain, or if pot would, but I've heard that pot would help the nausea.

Maybe someone like her would be mortified to have to ask for help, or to have to admit to being unable to finish something she started (driving the children home). She thought the pot/booze would help the pain, and she'd get everyone home without having to be "weak" and ask for help. Just wondering. I would love to see Warren Hance's phone records for that day.

I also wondered why Danny wasn't called - wouldn't he have been a lot closer than Warren? And why didn't Danny have breakfast with the others at McDonalds? He said they just had coffee at the campground. He doesn't look like he's missed too many meals.

What a strange place DL is. This is clearly the new "I fucked Janie Lyn" thread which needs to die but will obviously live on and on for weeks.

>>>There are unexplained chunks of time - why did this trip take 4 hours? If she pulled over TWICE to vomit, why did she still have so much alcohol in her stomach? And when did she smoke the joint(s)? %0D %0D %0D %0D She had alcohol in her stomach because she continued to drink after she threw up. She could have smoked pot anytime during that 4 hours%0D %0D %0D %0D >>>Maybe someone like her would be mortified to have to ask for help, or to have to admit to being unable to finish something she started (driving the children home). She thought the pot/booze would help the pain, and she'd get everyone home without having to be "weak" and ask for help. Just wondering. I would love to see Warren Hance's phone records for that day.%0D %0D %0D %0D yeah and maybe an alien forced her to do this%0D %0D %0D %0D >>>Is it possible she wanted to show everyone that she was NOT too drunk to drive, and kept driving anyway? Witnesses said she looked very determined, or something like that, and she was driving straight. Straight but in the wrong direction.%0D %0D %0D %0D some of you have the most bizarre imaginations.

R252, what do you think happened? If you are not interested in this subject, you wouldn't bother posting. I don't read or post in the threads that don't interest me.

R234, evading imaginary pursuit? that is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of%0D %0D %0D %0D %0D Millions of people smoke pot and haven't done anything crazy like this from paranoia. Not in 100 years has anything like that ever happened. If that were the case, the world would have ended decades ago because of all the crazy actions of paranoid pot smokers

Holy shit r250. I know you just got around to watching the movie but since you've obviously seen at least some of the posts in the previous 849, you must know that all of your insights have been made multiple times since this topic debuted, right?

This is getting stupid.

Thread fucking closed.

[quote]I get horrible migraines, and one of the symptoms is nausea. I wonder if she had a migraine, and that is why she stopped for painkillers. %0D %0D It's unusual for a person to get a migraine out of the blue. And anyone who is a chronic sufferer knows that regular painkillers do nothing to relieve the symptoms.

R256 Can you explain what you mean by "out of the blue"? You're right - regular painkillers don't work. I still take them anyway.

I meant a single migraine without having had a history of migraines. Sorry, I wasn't clear about that. I've only known people who have had a history of migraines. One of my best friends gets them. She's debilitated by them the pain is so awful. The only thing that seems to work is Imitrix (sp?) if taken right when the first syptoms begin. %0D %0D Do people have a single episode? %0D %0D I haven't watched the documentary (no HBO), but based on these two threads, Danny Schuler doesn't seem to describe his wife as having had a history of migraines. If she did, you'd think she'd have a primary care provider...%0D %0D Based on how my friend describes migraines, no person who gets them could possibly get behind the wheel of a car.

I love this thread!

r250/253 it would appear you don't read the threads you're interested in posting in.

Diane said something to the people who pulled her out of the car after the crash. Does anybody know what she said?

That wuz not me at R249. I tried to autenticate, but the thing told me I used illegal characters WHICH I DID NOT. %0D %0D All my characters are legal and so were Diane's. She wuz a saint. A thoroughly legal saint.%0D %0D

yes, r261 she said "this'll show them...." and then she died.

R261, it was, "Damn, I could really use another drink right now."

She said "told you I was hardcore"

I think you've confused Wrong Way Diane with Princess Diana, R261.

[quote]Diane said something to the people who pulled her out of the car after the crash. Does anybody know what she said? "I think my neck is broken."

[quote]That her family would have ignored or absolutely denied that she had a drinking problem is not an unusual thing. Families ignore or deny all kinds of things: drug addiction, physical abuse, sexual abuse.

Yes, but generally that happens before the person is found on the wrong side of the highway with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit and a severed head. After this happens, most people get a clue and realize "You know, she really did go through quite a bit of vodka."

Her family should have asked the garbage collectors how many empty booze bottles they carted away in the recycling each week. They would know.%0D %0D Her husband worked night so she could have easily hid it from him. She'd come home from work, feed the kids, put them to bed and get loaded. Wake up, go to work. Come home and do it all over again. Plus her husband probably never lifted a finger around the house, so it's not like he was hauling her empties to the curb each week.

I just love some of the posts on this thread. "Maybe she had a migraine". "Maybe it was a toothache". Yes, when I experience any type of pain, while on a road trip with several small children in the car, the first thing I do is down 3/4 of a bottle of vodka and light up a doobie! Please, anyone who thinks this promise me you will never babysit, or get behind the wheel of a car.%0D %0D As has been stated before, the only thing obvious in this case, is that this woman had troubles, for which she was self medicating, but they were not physical...so a headache or toothache(or brain tumor) was not among them.%0D %0D Now, if you'll excuse me, My lower back is aching and I need to run to the liquor store for a 5th of Jack Daniels, then stop by my dealer's place.

I agree, r270. Some people on this thread are making logical contortions to avoid the most basic fact: The broad was wasted and she drove herself and the kids to a fatal crash. It would be LOL to see the theories if she had been nonwhite! I would guess there would be much less leeway for her motives and less probing of her psychology. Like someone said, Thread Closed.

[quote]It would be LOL to see the theories if she had been nonwhite! I would guess there would be much less leeway for her motives and less probing of her psychology. Like someone said, Thread Closed.

People who feel the need to comment on hypothetical racism are part of the problem.

I am bummed that DL Danny can't authenticate. He makes me giggle.

The road was ill-designed that somebody could get on going the wrong way.%0D

The real DL Danny needs to try to "autenticate" again.

Agree, r274. Instead red signs that say WRONG WAY, the state should employ people to watch over the entrance to every highway to make sure drunkards don't drive the wrong way.

DL Danny reporting from the London riots (at R23)

When I was 14, I was a passenger in a small car accident. Nothing fatal, I was the only one seriously hurt (I was in the back passenger side and my face smashed through the window, leaving a small scar on my nose). A friend's mother was driving, she was picking me up and driving me and her daughter (and their younger sibling) to orchestra practice.

My parents' driveway is on a fairly major road - 35 MPH through traffic, and sometimes you have to wait a long time to pull out. In this case, Neighbor Mom backed out of the driveway only to be smashed in the side by a car doing 35 MPH down the street.

Years later, I found out from my friend that her mother had been drunk. Nobody even bothered to check or consider. This was a responsible mother of two, worked for the library, and was driving her children and a neighbor's kid to orchestra practice at 3:30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday. The fact that she might have been drinking never even crossed anyone's mind, no breathalyzer or anything was performed, it was chalked up to bad sightlines. (It was also 1988, pre-sensational 24-hour news.) From that point on we made it a policy for visitors that no one would back out of our driveway, they had to go down and turn around and pull out forward.

Turns out Neighbor Mom had a long history of a bad drinking problem. Only one other neighbor knew about it and they were secret drinking buddies, but he died and she was left to her own devices. One day we walked into her house to find strange small holes all over the kitchen - turns out she went on a small private rampage and was jabbing a serving fork over and over into the kitchen wall, but by the time we came over acted completely calm and rational like nothing had happened and couldn't explain how those holes in the wall could have possibly happened. Nobody questioned anything.

I truly believe Diane Shuler went through her entire life drunk and high and nobody noticed because she hid it well, and why in the world would someone with kids and responsibilities do that? It's inner city black and hispanic welfare mothers and fathers who go through life addicted, not responsible mothers from Long Island with good jobs, right?

I have a scar on my nose from when I was 14 to remind me that it really could be anyone.

I've since learned from the friend that the accident was the final straw for her mother and she sought help. I never said anything to anyone since in the grand karma scheme, I was not permanently damaged in any real way and someone who needed help with a problem got it. Perhaps the universe will one day be kind to me if I lose control and fuck up (doubtful.)

I think she had low self esteem, married a loser thinking she couldn't do any better, had kids thinking she wanted kids, so fuck him, she was going to have them. She probably figured raising kids alone would be easier than it was, but over time she became overwhelmed with anger and resentment. The kids were supposed to make up for the lousy marriage. Women do this all the time.%0D %0D Meanwhile, the other family blew off the irresponsibility of her husband, making her still more resentful. She had to watch people she felt were no more deserving than she was, have an easier life. %0D %0D I think she was filled with rage and wanted revenge on those who wouldn't help her, as she slowly drowned in resentment. They all seem very detached from her emotionally. Nobody knew what she was feeling, and she must have resented that too. I think she decided to get revenge on them by killing people they did care about, the kids. This is like what men do when they kill their kids with their ex-wife - "I will punish you by killing what you care for most," the kids. She may well have been emotionally detached from them all for a long time, just phoning it in for years. None of them noticed.%0D %0D I think she had a psychotic break, just made up her mind to go through with it no matter what, and drank and smoked until she felt numb enough to go through with it. The staring straight ahead and playing chicken with other cars points to that.%0D %0D I knew a dysfunctional family like this. The wife was extremely angry and resentful, but couln't leave for financial reasons. Also, to her, marriage = respectability in the outside world. I really could see that wife doing away with the kids to get even with the husband. They're grown now, thankfully. The couple really hated each other, but were "respectable, church-going" types. Nobody knew he was beating her but the closest family. Nobody stopped it.

Good points on the last two posts. I think they are correct as well.%0D %0D This also lends credence to my thoughts that she was trying to get something stronger such as Benadryl in the Sunoco, and they didn't have it. The clerk could only remember her asking for some kind of medicine and he told her they didn't carry it. Most convenience stores would have typical headache type meds but possibly not something like allergy meds, which would have sedated her even more so she could carry out this act.

Agree with R279's post. I read the coroner's report but I don't recall reading about liver damage so maybe she wasn't a drunk. Its possible that the family was correct; she didn't drink a lot.%0D %0D Also, we have only the B/IL's statement that her phone call to him stated she needed help. As others have speculated, would someone with control issues call and say she needed help? I don't think so. The vodka and joint was to steel her for what she was about to do and allow her to drown out the screaming and crying of the kids. For all we know, she may have have called him and said "I'm going to kill myself and take the kids with me!"

"Why does her face look SO bloated? ALcohol or internal injuries?"%0D %0D I don't think it was internal injuries. She was just obese. %0D %0D I've seen pictures of her when she was young. She was fat back then. Then she lost some weight and looked attractive. She met Danny; he was her "first love". And according to her friends, her "only love." I guess he was her first boyfriend. Anyway, she married the first loser who paid attention to her, which is what a lot of fat girls do after they lose some weight. %0D %0D

It's MY way or the HIGHWAY!

I think Dan did get caught (maybe with Jay's husband even?) cheating. I think she may have connected the dots the night before she left, and had it out with him. He's really not going to admit to any of that now. But I think something else happened on that trip. It is weird she stopped at McD's. She was probably trying to dull the rage a bit with her trusted screwdriver. But I'm wondering if at some point, one of the kids said something to the affect of, 'wow, we had a great time with grandma last week' or something like that. Her kids had no relationship with Diane's mother where the Hance kids did, right? How were bday parties arranged, did the Hances invite grandma or Diane? If Diane forbade contact between grandma and the grandkids, and later found out they had met, I think that's what would set her off. She's was drinking a bit already to dull the rage from Dan, so her inhibitions are already a bit lax. But I just can't figure out any other reason she would have taken all the kids out, and random strangers. It was a murder-suicide. She went nuclear. She and the Hances talked back and forth a couple of times, the last time about 8 minutes? And she was 'fine' and talking about a recital, right? I can't imagine having a one minute conversation with one kid in the car, but 8 minutes with 5 kids? She was confronting the Hances about Grandma, and she was furious. That%E2%80%99s why she called the brother and not the husband, and that's why they went to try to find her instead of calling the police. I think they knew what she was planning, and maybe even were delaying calling the cops thinking she really would carry it out if she saw the cops chasing her. She was drunk enough at this point to maybe go up the wrong ramp instead of driving into a concrete barrier, but she was beyond caring. Diane was a living walking simmering teapot all of her adult life- she was wound really tight, by all accounts. Driving really brought her over to a boil, on numerous occasions. The Hances would know this. They would immediately think it's possible that she could erupt into full rage and kill them all while driving. They're terrified and by the time they gather the courage up and concoct the cover story, it's too late. They also realize it would destroy what's left of their family if it came out that she did this in reaction to having the kids meet the grandmother. It would be legally/financially self-destructive, not to mention what an extreme psychological blow it would be to the grandmother.

Dumb Danny is sticking to this %E2%80%98something medically wrong%E2%80%99 story too. Which would have been fine. The Bastardi%E2%80%99s suing%E2%80%A6that%E2%80%99s expected and reasonable. If everyone stuck to the script, I think the insurance companies would take the hit because no one %E2%80%98knew%E2%80%99 what she was doing/how drunk she was. But Dumb Danny suing the Hances%E2%80%A6maybe not so dumb. The Hances can never ever say they knew and they delayed calling the police. Dumb Danny still just has to continue playing dumb, deflecting everyone with stupid outlandish theories. Everyone%E2%80%99s so busy with his stupid ideas, no one is looking into the basic verifiable facts of the case. Someone or something set her off. Doesn%E2%80%99t matter is she was a closet alcoholic, or a social drinker. She had no medical problems which would cause anything like this. The only people who know are the ones she was on the phone with. And they can%E2%80%99t say.

Damned haunting story. Why did she have the Hance's minivan anyway?

She had the minivan to hold all 5 kids. None of them were old enough to ride in the front seat and her two were young enough to be in car seats.%0D %0D I still think she had a psychotic snap and did it intentionally. Who knows what set her off. Some of the truth might come out during the lawsuits. I think that's why the Bastardi's are suing the Hances, to get some answers.

This conversation is still happening? I thought I was morbid for being interested.

Wow r284 great theory. Very sound. I also think her rage over her mother all these years was at the crux of this (and maybe dumb Danny's cheating...)

Thank you Aunt Diane and Law & Order! You've created a community of Queens Who Think They're Criminal Profilers.

You're so right, R288. It worries me that people read nutters like R284/R285 and think "That makes sense." This whole thing has turned into CSI: Taconic.

These are just educated guesses based on public information from police reports, autopsy reports and investigative reporting.

I don't think there were any affairs. Who would sleep with homely, dumbfuck Danny? Only a woman with a lot of emotional problems and low self esteem and that description aptly fitted Diane when she married him.%0D %0D Diane Schuler was a woman under a lot of stress; job, kids, house, extended family, loser husband. She was filled with a lot of repressed rage and dissatisfaction. Eating was obviously one respite she indulged in. Drinking and pot were a couple others. I think she'd been a secret drinker for a long time and was probably a pothead. Of course her idiot family and husband deny she ever had a "problem" with those vices, she just indulged in them occasionally. I think she drank and smoked weed on a regular basis and just kept it under wraps. On the fateful camping trip she was probably stressed out to the max. So in order to unwind she tossed back some screwdrivers and smoked weed. As for her drinking and getting high while driving a carload of kids...well, she'd probably done it before and thought she could do it again. She probably thought she was invincible and could do anything. That particular day she overdid it with the alcohol and pot. And as a result, eight people died, including herself. I don't think she set out to commit suicide, but her behavior indicates that perhaps she did have a suppressed desire to end her life. Too bad she had to take seven people with her, four of them children who had barely lived before their lives were taken away.

Um, Nancy Drewina @ R284...Jay's husband is Dumb Danny's brother so they probably weren't having an affair!

I watched this. Twice. Horrifying story. It's like a horror movie, only it REALLY HAPPENED.%0D %0D After seeing this my conclusion is that Diane Schuler, with long repressed feelings of rage and dissatisfaction with her wretched, stress-filled life, finally snapped. %0D %0D After a particularly stressful family trip, I think she decided to take the edge off with a few drinks. I think she'd been a secret drinker for a long time. She tossed back almost 10 ounces of vodka, but the booze wasn't enough, so she smoked some pot. Completely blitzed and high, I think her rage came to the surface and her inhibitions disappeared. She decided this is it: I'm going to end it. She had the kids in the car but probably thought her own kids would be better off if they died with her and if the nieces died too, they'd all be in heaven together. %0D %0D She left her cell phone, knowing she'd never need it again. She drove straight toward the traffic, with precision and determination. It didn't matter if she killed other people; she was going to do what she set out to do. And that seems EXACTLY "like Diane."%0D %0D Murder and suicide; that's what it was.

I miss Aunt Diane!

I wonder what Danny misses most about Diane...?

293? You realize your hypothesis has been hypothesized dozens of times in this and the other thread and you've brought absolutely nothing new to the conversation, except possibly your fucked up assertion about them all "being in heaven together" even though there is nothing in the story to lead to that supposition?

Maybe someone from the ouiji board thread should ask Diane what her motives were.

Maybe Duane was poisoned at McDonalds. Or someone slipped the vodka in her drink at gas station. It could be possible. We dont know for sure if she drank. There's no footage. Does the son remember her drinking or having a crack pipe?

You don't smoke pot with a "crack-pipe", R298.

R299, are you sure? I wouldn't put anything past Aunt Duane.

Pic of "Aunt Duane"

lol

Who is Aunt Duane and why are we talking about him?

Aunt Duane is married to Uncle Bottom.

Aunt Duane never touched alcohol or pot. She was, as Uncle Bottom has said, a saint. Those surly teenagers at McDonald's, annoyed that she asked for an order of Chicken Selects, poured a can of Axe and some fryer grease into her orange juice.

Since this concoction tastes exactly like water, she never knew what hit her. Hallucinating fiercely, Aunt Duane let Jesus take the wheel. Jesus, however, never obtained his driver's license and only read Hebrew and Aramaic. He could not read the "wrong way" sign!

Uncle Bottom really has a case against the state. All languages need to be used in road signs.

These are just EDUCATED GUESSES.

Was Aunt Duane married to Uncle Apple Bottom?

Did Aunt Duane have to evacuate because of Hurricane Irene Csra?

I just evacuated from those nasty bean burritos. damn stanky shiiite

the husband is disgusting. the film is offensive.

i could not get past that piece of trash sister-in-law and the idiot asshole husband point-blank saying the autopsy results are incorrect when there was a vodka bottle in the car and they admit she smoked marijuana.

and when the husband asks the autopsy doctor if she could have had an abscess tooth, which led to a stroke, which then made her think the vodka was water and drink it?

disgusting.

I thought Aunt Diane was a woman. Who is Aunt Duane? And did he make it out of the hurricane?

As was the case with the article entitled “Diane Schuler: An Interesting Perspective”, an excessive amount of comments about “UPDATE 4: Diane Schuler” has caused a conflict with WordPress software. The result has been that the page will no longer load properly for most people. To bypass that annoying problem, I have created a reprint of “UPDATE 4: Diane Schuler”, so folks can read and comment on it again. This should solve our problem until we reach 700 comments again….

Yeah, but did she do it?

Wow, the husband is a total scumbag. Suing the parents of children his wife killed?

She wasn't drunk. Someone contaminated her blood test. It happens.

Can't believe after all these posts, no one else came up with the perfect casting choice for Jay - Ellen Barkin. Looks like her, talks like her , and Barkin can finally get an Oscar worthy role. Melissa McCarthy, as Diane, is also perfect casting.

Melissa is a little too heavy to play Diane. Beside that, you can't make a film about 8 people dying in a car accident. I wish someone could prove that she wasn't drunk. If she was an alcoholic, all her friends and family would know. If she wasn't a drunk, she would never have driven all those children around while she was drinking.

RE : 316 - The movie / story would not be about the crash . You wouldn't even have to show it ( end the film as she gets on the off ramp). The whole mystery is about what really happened before the crash , and let the audience decide what caused it . It could be fascinating. Think of the old Diane Keaton film 'Looking For Mr. Good bar'. It had a shocking, tragic, ending, yet it was what occured leading up to it, with the audience knowing the ending, that made it so compelling. And Ellen Barkin would be great as Jay.

I thought Aunt Duane was heavy, or am I just misremembering?

I like RE 10 explanation. ( I'm a big '48 Hours' / ' Disc. ID ' channel fan). You are constantly seeing these seemingly normal suburban people , who have hidden lives / affairs, with no one knowing. Diane's behavior that day was so extreme, so evil - for someone who loved her daughters & nieces so much, there has to be a reason.

[quote]the husband is disgusting.

He really is. Didn't he also say he resents his late wife. because she left behind their kid who he now has to take care of or something like that.

He did not want kids R320 which is why Diane was left to do everything. Bathing, feeding, tucking in, homework, etc. Dad never did anything.

And now he's molesting the kid. I hope he rots in hell.

Can't find part 1 for the nostalgia minded.

I finally saw this documentary.

Aunt Diane was a piece of shit on Earth and she is now rotting in hell.

This woman had obvious issues and married a borderline intellectually disabled lazy ass coward who does not even have any interest in the one child who lived through the crash. And, that would be his own child, btw! What the fuck?

Aunt Diane was not a frustrated frau or any of that. She was just a drink and weed addled coward who decided to kill herself and the youngest branch of her own family tree in order to "end the line." She drove like a fucking ninja in order to do what she did and I can only imagine what those poor innocent children had as their final moments and what her very own son deals with in the here and now.

Sorry for venting. But, fuck Aunt Diane and her bastard husband.

Loved the Datalounge Danny. That was great parody and it tempers this thread very nicely.

Bump for the discussion going on now about her.

[quote] Diane looked extra bloated in the death photos because she had massive artery tears. Her upper body was basically blowing up like a water balloon.

This is ridiculously incorrect. She was not blowing up like a balloon. Nobody was pumping air into her. She had blood in her body before the accident -- it was simply in her vessels. There was no time to third space. And you don't swell up from injuries after you are dead. Your immune system, which is responsible for the action which causes swelling, shuts down when you die.

Bloating occurs with decomposition. It's due to gases in the body formed by broken down tissue. It does not happen immediately after an accident.

Here are some of the autopsy results:

Head is normal and face is symmetrical.

The breasts are ample and symmetrical.

The abdomen is flat.

The neck - no significant changes externally. No significant hemorrhage in surrounding soft tissue

The chest cavity contains about 80 cc of blood. (note -- that is less than 3 ounces)

Thoracoabdominal incision through 1.75 inches of abdominal wall fat shows the organs in their usual positions.

Peritoneal cavity has a small amount of blood.

-----

There is no mention of swelling, no mention of third spacing, no mention of fluid in the face, neck, chest or abdomen except for less than 3 oz of blood in the chest cavity and a small amount of blood in peritoneal cavity.

Diane Schuler was 5'3" and weighed 204lbs. She was obese. Photos of her where she appears slimmer were taken years ago. She was proportionate -- meaning her weight gain was evenly distributed on her body rather than mostly in the abdomen and buttocks, as some overweight people have. Those people are disproportionately obese. She wasn't. She would look less obese in clothing that was roomy. She is wearing baggy clothes, as opposed to skin tight clothing that many overweight women wear.

Thanks r326 This is what I was talking about on the other thread when I said I thought her organs had ruptured or burst. Good to know.

I just saw that CNN is playing it tonight.

She was a real bitch at the office, too.

So what actually killed her R326? I've forgotten.

[quote] So what actually killed her [R326

She had an asthma attack

R331 broken neck, ruptured organs???? That's my question. Obviously she died in the wreck.

She drank and smoked because her husband was a do nothing loser. How frustrating. Add to that the passive aggressive mother in law who raised a spoiled, lazy son.

R326, I agree that she did not have it, but if you have ever seen a person that died of massive internal bleeding, the abdomen looks very distended.

R322 it's call an internal decapitation.

Erroll Morris should make a documentary.

I thought I was the only one who thought she had "pinged", I believe she probably told her husband on the camping trip. She had many secrets and she hadn't been truthful about her sexuality. Her secrets, emotional and physical pain caused her to self- medicate with drugs and alcohol.

"Diane Schuler was 5'3" and weighed 204lbs."

Holy shit! I'm 5'4" and weight 130 (menopausal high) and feel uncomfortable. I can't IMAGINE weighing 70 lbs more.

btw most men are lazy and the wife/mom does all of the work this is nothing new

r339: yup, that's what I see everywhere I look.

I don't think she was a closet alcoholic. You don't just stop drinking if you get pregnant. Hardcore boozers can't stop and especially for a solid 9 months. If she was a drunk why are all 3 of her children miraculously without Fetal Alcohol Syndrome? I do believe she was high and drunk that day but that doesn't make her a drunk and certainly her life by all accounts didn't paint her as a drunk either. All the people on this board need to get off their high horse and come back down to reality. As if you are all saints!

I LOVE IT, A PEEK INTO THE SLEEZY SECRET LIVES OF LOW LIFE LONG ISLANDERS!

The reason her face looked unrecognizable from swelling after death compared to the gas station video earlier the same day and lake photo the same weekend is because of internal decapitation massive injuries and blunt-force trauma she suffered as the knowledgeable posters have mentioned.

BUMP

This is simply sad. I feel for EVERYONE involved. This is tragic, and I pray for each family to find peace-of-mind.

"I don't think she was a closet alcoholic. You don't just stop drinking if you get pregnant. Hardcore boozers can't stop and especially for a solid 9 months. If she was a drunk why are all 3 of her children miraculously without Fetal Alcohol Syndrome? I do believe she was high and drunk that day but that doesn't make her a drunk and certainly her life by all accounts didn't paint her as a drunk either. All the people on this board need to get off their high horse and come back down to reality. As if you are all saints!"

Oh, shut up. Of course she was a closet alcoholic. She liked her vodka. And you can be an alcoholic and have children without FAS; she just didn't drink while pregnant. And you don't have to be a "hardcore boozer" to be an alcoholic. Lots of alcoholics stop drinking...and then start right back up again. It's pretty obviously that she drank and smoked pot regularly to escape the reality of her awful life. She was an arrogant, controlling, impulsive person; a deadly combination. She no doubt thought that she, Diane Schuler, could handle tossing back shots of vodka and driving...with a car full of kids. That woman and her husband were reprehensible. No wonder they ended up married; they were both cut out of the same piece of rotten cloth.

It was only a matter of time before her dirty little secret told on her. Unfortunately for her, she had to kill seven other people for her secret life to reveal itself.

As someone who's suffered from substance abuse issues, I think I have a good idea of what happened. She got wasted with her husband the night before and woke up the next morning still drunk but not realizing it. If she was a secret hardcore alcoholic, her behavior wouldn't seem much different. I bet halfway through the trip, she sobered up and started to get hungover. She was probably trying to score pain meds at this point to fight off the headache. She couldn't get them so at some point, she figured the "tail of the dog". Marihuana is also known as a hangover cure. So obviously the vodka wasn't helping with the headache, so she decided to smoke. The only problem is if you're very hungover and dehydrated, your mind can go blank, you start sweating, and seeing large white spots. This is probably what happened in the Tappan Zee. The initial side effects of the pot probably wore off and she thought she was okay to drive, forgetting she was stoned too. In that state of mind, she otobsbly was trying to get home as soon as possible and assumed the cars serving around her were coming from the other side. Then, CRASH.

I also think that the private investigator did the husband and sister in law a huge favor and they were too stupid and feeding their own denial to realize it. If you notice from his business cards, he was in private security. I bet her ran the tests, saw she was loaded, and held onto the samples to make it harder for anyone to take legal action against his clients.

I also think the sister in law was that creepy brand of vulture/tragedy whore who pushed herself into the situation in a way that was very seedy.

I don't believe she was drinking, I believe she had a serious health problem and it meant she was unable to think straight. I don't believe for a minute that she was an alcoholic and that families would have let her drive their kids, it they thought she was an alcoholic. Her sugar was completely out of whack because of her abscessed tooth.

r350, in addition to testing her blood alcohol level, which was 3x over the legal limit, there was about a quart of undigested vodka in her stomach. She also had pot in her system.

There was no medical issue found during the autopsy other than extreme alcohol intoxication.

R350=Jay Schuler

So much denial. I read the sister-in-laws book and the when she discusses Diane getting into an argument at the McDonald's that morning because the boy wanted Chicken McNuggets and they were still serving breakfast and Diane wanted to make sure "the kids all got what they wanted."

Diane sounds like a bossy woman who got what SHE wanted.

I still want to know why she kept driving after the phone call where she was told to stay where she was.

I just watched the documentary. I'm convinced it was a murder-suicide.

[quote]R6 If she was so hell bent on a suicide mission to punish her husband, why not let the 3 little girls out of the van first?

I think she went into an alcoholic blackout...rather than making conscious suicidal choices. Something took over and she was on auto pilot. One driver who saw her face said she was showing no emotion at the wheel (?)

I think she probably went to bed drunk and woke up early after just a few hours' sleep, and kept drinking. The husband doesn't want to admit they had drinks late the night before, because it would perhaps make him legally liable. (He is a complete dufus on all counts, though.)

[quote]R14 Can someone give me the abridged version of why datalounge is so fascinated with a local drunk driving car accident story? I can give you a few more "drunk kills innocents" stories of equal tragedy/horror. What's so special about this one? Frau hatefest on DL or local NY'ers navel gazing?

The death toll aside, it's because she traveled down a freeway in broad daylight going the wrong way for almost 2 miles, at 85 miles an hour or something. It's not like she rolled through a stop sign or even went off a bridge in the fog.

Every now and then as I'm on the freeway, I think, "Geez.....what if a car were suddenly hurtling STRAIGHT AT ME??"

I think she contemplated suicide at the Tappen Zee bridge. That's when she put her phone down. Decided against it, drove away, drove aimlessly, then worked up the courage to get on the Tanonic State Parkway.

I remember this accident like it was yesterday because I’m local. I think it has gotten so much attention because of the kids and the initial assumption that something medical happened to Diane. I will never forget the shock when her autopsy came back with drugs and alcohol present.

I’m in the murder suicide camp. Drugs and alcohol to help her do it.

It also still gets attention because it's an unsolved mystery...

Not really r359, she was drunk. Nobody switched her blood samples, she didn't have a medical emergency, there was no illuminati interference, just a drunk frau.

[quote]R360 Not really [R359], she was drunk. Nobody switched her blood samples, she didn't have a medical emergency, there was no illuminati interference, just a drunk frau.

I'm not saying her samples were tampered with or anything like that. I meant it is a "mystery" in that the family in the documentary are not forthcoming about who she really was...the extent of her alcoholism, etc. So the character is rather opaque. That's what's mysterious.....who she fucking WAS.

It's mysterious as to why a mother would down TEN DRINKS (and smoke a joint) for BREAKFAST before driving her own kids and 3 (?) nieces home. That's really rather unheard of. It's not "just a drunk frau". Hence = mysterious.

Oh Okay r361. Some people think her samples were tampered with, like this is Lady Di level car crash shit. I think it was really telling that the one woman (forget who, haven't seen this in years) is off smoking and saying no one knows she smokes...that pretty much says it all, the family are in denial and blind to who she was.

[quote]R362 Oh Okay. Some people think her samples were tampered with, like this is Lady Di level car crash shit

Right...it's pathetic watching the husband and sister in law (?) grasp at straws. Aunt Diane was a drunk and a pot head...but apparently rather a closeted one. At least from what they're telling us.

There are a million drunk, pothead moms out there....but they don't end up racing the wrong way down freeways, with or without kids in the car. The whole situation is shocking and mysterious in that sense. Like, Who does that??

(I know I'm repeating myself) (hic)

Film closes with medical, psychiatric and forensic expert Harold J. Bursztajn, M.D., saying:

[quote]Whatever happened in this tragedy, there was no evidence that Diane Schuler was a bad person. What evidence we have is that she was a very good mom and a very good person, generally...maybe a bit too good. Maybe a bit of a perfectionist. I don't see any evidence that what she did was intentional. Given the fact that she was generally someone with very high standards for herself, was someone very socially connected, she had good protector factors...so even if she had found out some horrible news, I don't see it likely she would kill herself. Especially not in the manner that this tragedy occurred. It's hard to imagine, isn't it, that simple coincidences can be a major tipping point and can result in a major catastrophes? It's not something we are built as human beings to be able to live with.

That's the mystery.

Patton Oswalt and his wife Meredith could play Danny and Diane in the tv movie

[quote]I read the sister-in-laws book and the when she discusses Diane getting into an argument at the McDonald's that morning because the boy wanted Chicken McNuggets and they were still serving breakfast and Diane wanted to make sure "the kids all got what they wanted."

Diane wanted the kids to have a good last meal

R365

While I don't agree that people who die by suicide are necessarily bad people -- and I think most evidence in this case points to suicide -- most suicides don't take out seven other people. I kinda think that pushes her into "bad person" territory.

I commented above, but I think she stopped at Tappen Zee and contemplated jumping, but then realized she had a van of kids. She didn't want to leave them. I think from the time she arrived on the bridge, to the time of the accident, she was beside herself. Maybe getting on the Taconic *was* a mistake; who knows. But at some point, she made a choice. Maybe she panicked when she realized she was going the wrong way, and already feeling suicidal, said "Fuck it."

[quote]R368 But at some point, she made a choice.

I posted above, as well.

I think she went into a blackout. I don't know if you've ever had one...but if you do things after you've "checked out," things you don't even remember, are those really "choices" as we usually think of them?

Yes, she definitely made the choice to belt 10 drinks for breakfast and wash it all down with a joint...but I don't think speeding against traffic for 2 miles was a conscious choice. She was way, waaaaaay out of it by then.

[quote]R366 Patton Oswalt and his wife Meredith could play Danny and Diane in the tv movie

And Edie Falco as the sister-in-law, Jay. (They'd have to be paid to dramatize their story, though, and that would be gross.)

Still waiting for the "Diane Schuler was on fire and hopping around on her one good leg after the crash" troll. to show up.

LOL, wait what? What is that about R372?

bump

bump

R373, from a post in 2009: "Diane Schuler did not die on impact. She got out of the car completely engulfed in flames and missing a leg. A coworker's husband was on the scene."

This person(s) showed up on many subsequent Diane Schuler threads and making a similar claim.

bump

R376 oh God I remember that troll.

I've watched to documentary twice and I still don't know quite what to think of it all. I kinda lean towards a deliberate suicide. Diane was given to strange acts of impulsiveness that had no reason to them, and she was massively under the influence to boot.

She accidentally got too drunk and killed herself and the kids. Just like many other tragic DUI cases.

Mystery solved.

This is more than a tragic DUI case, R379, which is why it still intrigues DLers eight years later.

bump

Ia there a "bump" troll now?

Or is the ghost of Diane Schuler posting on DL???

[quote]This is more than a tragic DUI case

No, this is just a tragic DUI case.

[quote]which is why it still intrigues DLers eight years later.

Because certain family members created a documentary trying to make it appear to me something so much mysterious than it was. I still remember the scene where they get their own medical tests back and the person is just "She was indeed drunk and high, I checked other theories and there is nothing"

When I look at the way this highway is set up, it's a little bit easier to understand how a drunk person might become disoriented and think they were traveling on a two-lane highway. This wasn't an interstate highway crash. The road she was on had two lanes, with the opposite direction flowed in two lanes that were set off from it by twenty feet or more. She probably got the lit the fuck up and didn't know what the hell was going on.

If she had an abcessed tooth maybe she kept drinking and smoking to numb the pain (which in case of a real abcess is unbearable) ?

Or maybe there's family drama background we're missing because they're keeping their mouths shut.

She was a control freak and a drunk who thought she could handle her alcohol and pot. Secret drinkers are in denial and willing to do anything to hide their addiction. Her version of hitting bottom unfortunately ended in multiple deaths.

I think it's interesting that she left the phone and drove off. Probably didn't want to be confronted by her brother. I think the husband and sister in law knew more than they were letting on. I think something happened. Something must have gone on. She was sick of doing everything. Her husband was having an affair, probably with a guy in the parks. He told his son he wished he never had him. She demanded chicken selects and pain killers. Somebody might have put vodka in her sealed McDonald's orange juice. if the tumor on her thyroid caused her to go mental that could be what happened. She was extremely controlling. They said she was throwing up outside the car. Straight as a pin. I was so freaked out when they showed the death photo. She looked drunk, but dead. And also fat. She carried a lot of heavy drinking weight. She gained weight on the drive because her brother was coming to get her. He didn't call 911 because he assumed the worst and feared getting in trouble himself. The phone was on the barrier near the toll booth. She drove a number of miles in the wrong direction and rather swiftly. It is a mystery. Something must have happened. An undetectable brain aneurysm.

There's no mystery. She was a raging alcoholic. She drank in the morning before driving children because that's what active alcoholics do. All of her "weird" behavior is explained by the fact that she was blasted out of her goddamned mind on pot and vodka from the moment she took off in the car to her death. That's it. Period. End of story.

The people who are trying to piece together some sort of "mystery" simply don't understand addiction and what it does to people.

Hilarious the person at R266 who christened her "Wrong Direction Diane" to distinguish her from Princess Diana! Can't believe someone trolled posts claiming she survived in flames!

I saw the Law & Order episode based on this. It was her scheming boss, he spiked her smoothie with grain alcohol, replaced the contents of her asthma inhaler with Fentynal and then threw the alcohol bottle under the driver's seat to frame her.

I know that's what really happened because I saw it on television.

Image:

Also, she had a lot of conflict about being,trans.

[quote] [R373], from a post in 2009: "Diane Schuler did not die on impact. She got out of the car completely engulfed in flames and missing a leg. A coworker's husband was on the scene."

This person(s) showed up on many subsequent Diane Schuler threads and making a similar claim. [quote]

Holy shit, that was me! I assure you, I'm not a troll and didn't make a similar claim in subsequent threads. In the early days of the initial thread I was merely recounting what I had been told by a coworker who claimed her husband witnessed the accident and that is what he told her he saw. Once it was known that she died from internal decapitation someone else in the thread explained what happens to the body in such a case and that for her to get out of the car, whether on fire or not, and hop around on one leg would not be possible. And that was it. I was happy to have been corrected, and probably acknowledged that. I was glad to find this out, because it left a really horrible image in my mind. I don't know why my coworker or her husband lied about what happened, or what he really saw, and I don't really care. I never had a conversation with her afterwards to clarify it.

I am convinced it was a murder/suicide. No control freak like Diane, who by all accounts was ostensibly super woman would risk EVERYTHING by drowning 10 shot of vodka with 5 kids in her car. I believe she was deeply hurting and her mask of perfection and not showing any emotions finally cracked. I believe she and her husband were not close at all and probably had issues, she may have resented her brother(father of the 3 girls) because he forgave their mother, someone she greatly resented for the abandonment .. I think she said "F it" and was planning on checking out with her kids and nieces.... I can't imagine the terror those kids went through the last hour of their lives. I believe she was cruel in the end to them and they knew she was going to deliberately crash..... Anyone else get a closeted dyke vibe from her?

I also believe she was a very controlled drinker, but heavy user. She never shown signs of being intoxicated to coworkers, friends and family. Why drink super heavily on the way home with 5 kids in her car?

The Taconic State Highway don't go for boooooze an' dope.

"I'm defending her. No one thought she was an alcoholic but for some reason, she goes aginst character and kills 7 people. Sorry, it doesn't wash. It needs to be investigated and the first place I would start was with the lab that did the blood work.%0D %0D I have known many alcoholics, some secret drunks some always falling down drunks. There were always signs, even if they put their booze in their coffee...you could still see the problem."

Dumbass, her husband had a second pathology report by an independent pathologist and it came back with the same amount of booze and weed...

I think her brother and sister in law suspected a stroke or something similar.. I believe them when they said they never saw her inebriated .

I was just reading on the aftermath of this horror and specifically what it did to the brother and sister in law. The sis in law seriously considered suicide and the brother was consumed with guilt as it was his sister and depression . :(

From thread 1

"Eyewitnesses said she was not asleep at the wheel. She was very determinedly driving "straight as a pin."

One eyewitness says she was convinced this driver was determined to commit suicide.

I believe she did it on purpose. She took a long time getting herself that drunk -- 4 hours, then she smoked pot. I believe she was steeling herself to kill herself and the kids. Notice none of her brothers (including the brother who lost 3 children in the accident) have spoken about her at all. They know something and cannot or will not lie.

The pighead husband would not even think about letting the son have psychotherapy. He is not the type to have gone for marriage therapy Something happened between them that weekend.

The husband told the sister-in-law he never wanted to have kids. Raising the kids was supposed to be the wife's job. I wonder if he said something like that to his wife that weekend and she felt, " Oh yeah? Fine. You won't have to do anything anymore."

A repressed lesbian dealing with maternal abandonment and seething rage. This is all such a terribly tragic and infuriating story ..

Did she and her man whore hubby fight that weekend? Did he know she drank heavily, especially that weekend? There is more to this story and I believe it will point to a vengeful murder/ suicide

R402, I actually wonder if she planned this for several days. Whose idea was it to take her 3 nieces camping ? Did something happen on that family weekend? Did she resent her brother for not only forgiving their mother and having her back in his life, but also having to take on the role of wife and mother at NINE YEARS OLD! That is a tremendous responsibility for a young girl, especially after mom abandons family, not dies.. Her inner child was RAGING!!!!!

R394, I did get that vibe. Never met the woman, but it crossed my mind.

It's all too much to contemplate. The fact that chills my blood is those five children went through TERROR in those last 60 minutes (at least) of their lives prettified and seeing a evil side of their mom and aunt, that they never saw before . She was possessed with rage and her mask of sanity fell off.

I believe she and hubs had a fight and or she planned this and told him to head on home because she wanted to take kids out the breakfast.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

R407, as horrific as your scenario sounds, it's a better alternative to a planned suicide. I still can't get my mind around the fact that a woman who was so controlled, and perfect would risk so much by getting smashed driving 5 kids( all her flesh and blood)

Why would kill a kid she tried to get McD to cook Chicken Selects for breakfast?

R409 She wanted him to die happy. Duh

I think Diane was inspired by this classic scene from "Slaughterhouse Five". Must watch:

I can't even think about the guilt and horror the parents of the 3 nieces and Diane's brother and sis in law went through. They must agonize over the last minutes of their daughters lives before horrific crash.

"She was a control freak and a drunk who thought she could handle her alcohol and pot. Secret drinkers are in denial and willing to do anything to hide their addiction. Her version of hitting bottom unfortunately ended in multiple deaths.

—drunk in recovery

AA creep- It's not always about the "disease" This was intentional. She was a VERY controlled drinker. Something happened that Sunday that made her not give a damm and my theory(and many others) is she intentionally got wasted to get up the nerve to kill herself and those kids and others.

"drunk in recovery?"

You are not drunk now that you are sober!!! Keep buying those BS cult like lies

"If she was suicidal, it's a shame she couldn't have just gone out alone and crashed the van into a wall. She had to take innocent lives with her."

A revenge suicide .

She was gay!!!

R416, I had that vibe, too.

(Did we already talk about this?)

LOL r411. I always remember her saying she was going to lose weight for Billy. No wonder he preferred Valerie Perrine.

[quote]r413 Something happened that Sunday that made her not give a damm and my theory (and many others) is she intentionally got wasted to get up the nerve to kill herself and those kids and others.

I don't buy it. She wasn't by any accounts an EVIL person.

Aunt Diane went [italic] One Toke Over the Line [/italic] and straight into a blackout.

She was a gay fat frau

I think Danny was having an affair and that's what drove Diane (tee hee) over the edge.

Wasn't there something in the documentary that he was supposed to be at the campsite the day before her, but instead he only arrived just before she did? Or is that from the earlier thread?

I always wondered if Dumb Danny was having an affair with Diane's brother (the father of the 3 girls she murdered), and that's why she was willing to kill the girls, to punish her brother?

Although the theory that the brother forgiving their mother enraged her inner child (and drove her to kill his daughters) is also plausible.

"Although the theory that the brother forgiving their mother enraged her inner child (and drove her to kill his daughters) is also plausible.

Yes, because Diane became his mommy at age 9. She deeply resented it.

Diane Downs will rot in prison for what she did to her own children. There's something wrong with her alright. She shot her own children while listening to Duran Duran. What a terrible way to die.

R423, wut?

r6, You need to read the papers more often.